By Jamal Al-Nuwayyef
MARRAKECH, Morocco, Oct 2 (KUNA) -- Director General of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) Eng. Adel Al-Sager on Tuesday emphasized the importance of promoting scientific research to build capacities of Arab cadres in the energy sector.
In an interview with KUNA on the sidelines of his participation in the 11th Arab Energy Conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, Al-Sager, a Kuwaiti, called for boosting pan-Arab investments in this key sector.
Cooperation and synergy is key for securing energy needs, he noted.
The AIDMO is coordinating Arab efforts to achieve the optimal use of mineral resources and upgrading the industrial sector to increase production as well as abiding by the environmental protection standards and rationalizing the energy consumption to achieve sustainable development for Arab states, he said.
On the conference, which kicked off Monday, Al-Sager pointed out that such gatherings are important for reviewing the developments of the global energy market and the performance of the Arab energy institutions.
He shed lights on the conference's contribution to linking energy policies to development issues, studying current and future energy needs of the Arab countries and means to meet them and reviewing efforts to build and enhance capacities of Arab energy cadres.
In the meantime, the conferees agreed on continuing cooperation and dialogue among energy producers and consumers to improve the energy transporting system and boost the role in energy in development.
The participants in the second session on the global partnership for energy security chaired by Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Eng. Tareq Al-Mulla affirmed that the energy consumption rates will continue its upward trend until 2030.
They urged the specialized firms to provide precise data and analysis of energy outlook and to remove any ambiguity about its future.
In the main session, Secretary-General of the International Energy Forum (IEF), Sun Xiansheng underlined the need for constant cooperation and consultation among energy producers and consumers to help stabilize the energy market and avoid price fluctuations that harm everybody.
He reiterated that the cooperation and dialogue will ensure long-term global market stability.
For his part, Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development Fund (OFID), Suleiman Al-Herbish underscored the need for achieving energy security, lamenting the fact that 36 million people in the Arab World are not able to secure their energy needs.
Al-Herbish pointed out that OFID is striving to eliminate energy poverty through its programs and initiatives.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, an aide to the Saudi oil minister, described the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 as a quake that jolted the global oil market which lost four million barrels a day of its crude supplies.
The world has since realized the importance of cooperation and coordination among producers and consumers to ensure market stability, he argued.
The four-day conference is organized by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) under the theme of Energy and Arab Cooperation.
The main objectives of the conference are to establish an Arab institutional framework to review oil and energy issues, to identify and assess energy resources in Arab countries to enhance resource development, and to evaluate the impact of international energy policies on Arab countries. (end) jn.ibi