India will host the 16th International Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting that is going to be held in New Delhi from April 10-12.
- Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, while addressing a press conference announced that the IEF meeting will be co-hosted by the Government of China and South Korea.
- The International energy Forum meet will witness participation from approximately 92 countries including 72 member countries of IEF and 20 guest countries.
- The last IEF Ministerial Conference hosted by India was in 1996.
- Global energy organisations, including the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, International Energy Agency, will also be represented at the meet.
- The theme for the IEF Forum Meet 2018 will be based on the future of global energy security, transition, technology and investment opportunities.
- Since the two major Oil and Gas consuming nations China and South Korea are co-hosting the meeting, they can be influenced to address the concerns and demands of India.
- This would help in bringing the interests of the consumers to the core of discussion.
- The last IEF Ministerial Meeting IEF15 was held in 2016 which was hosted by Algeria. The theme of IEF15 was “Global Energy transition: an enhanced role for the dialogue”.
- The basic objective of the IEF is to facilitate dialogue among international organizations in order to enhance the policy cooperation as well as to strengthen the governance of energy markets globally.
- To work towards achieving this goal, a trilateral programme has been established between the IEF and the IEA (International Energy Agency) and the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries).
List of the previous IEF Ministerial meetings
| IEF Meeting | Year | Location | Host | Co-Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ministerial Seminar IEF 1 | 1991 | Paris | France | Venezuela |
| Ministerial Workshop IEF 2 | 1992 | Solstrand | Norway | Egypt and Italy |
| 3rd International Energy Forum IEF 3 | 1994 | Cartagena | Spain | Algeria and Mexico |
| 4th International Energy Forum IEF 4 | 1995 | Puerto la Cruz | Venezuela | EC & Russia |
| 5th International Energy Forum IEF 5 | 1996 | Goa | India | Brazil & Norway |
| 6th International Energy Forum IEF 6 | 1998 | Cape Town | South Africa | Qatar & UK |
| 7th International Energy Forum IEF 7 | 2000 | Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | Japan & Netherlands |
| 8th International Energy Forum IEF 8 | 2002 | Osaka | Japan | Italy & UAE |
| 9th International Energy Forum and 1st International Energy Business Forum IEF 9 and IEBF 1 | 2004 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | Iran & Norway |
| 10th International Energy Forum and 2nd International Energy Business Forum IEF 10 and IEBF 2 | 2006 | Doha | Qatar | China & Italy |
| 11th International Energy Forum and 3rd International Energy Business Forum IEF 11 and IEBF 3 | 2008 | Rome | Italy | India & Mexico |
| 12th International Energy Forum and 4th International Energy Business Forum IEF 12 and IEBF 4 | 2010 | Cancun | Mexico | Germany & Kuwait |
| 13th International Energy Forum and 5th International Energy Business Forum IEF 13 and IEBF 5 | 2012 | Kuwait City | Kuwait | Algeria & Netherlands |
| 14th International Energy Forum IEF 14 | 2014 | Moscow | Russia | Iraq |
| 15th International Energy Forum IEF 15 | 2016 | Algiers | Algeria | Kazakhstan |
