Historical BACKGROUND OF THE ARAB ENERGY CONFERENCE

      The idea of convening an Arab Energy Conference began with a decision adopted by the Ministerial Council of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in May 1977. Ensuing consultations between OAPEC and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) led to an agreement that the two organizations jointly sponsor the Conference, thereby ensuring the representation of all Arab countries and underscoring the interrelationship between energy and development.

 OBJECTIVES

The Arab Energy Conference has the following objectives:

1. To establish an Arab institutional framework for oil and energy issues in order to develop a Pan-Arab perspective.

2. To coordinate relations among Arab institutions concerned with energy and development.

3. To harmonize energy policies with development issues.

4. To investigate present and future Arab energy requirements and the means of meeting them.

5. To identify and assess existing energy resources in the Arab countries, and to coordinate and enhance efforts to develop these resources.

6. To identify and evaluate the impact of international energy policies on the Arab countries.

CONFERENCE HISTORY

• The First  Arab Energy  Conference  was  held  in March  1979  in  Abu-Dhabi,  UAE, under the theme, “The Arab and Energy Issues.” After the Conference, contacts were carried out between the League of Arab States and OAPEC to incorporate the activities of the Arab Petroleum Congress, which had been convened by the Arab League since 1959, into those of the Arab Energy Conference. With this the Arab League became a sponsor of the Arab Energy Conference. It was also decided to include the Arab Industrial Development Organization (AIDO) as a co-sponsor of the Conference because of its interest in petrochemical and electricity industries.

• The Second held in March 1982 in Doha, Qatar, under the theme “Energy for Development and Arab Economic Integration”, and the Arab Organization for Mineral Resources joined as a sponsor of the Conference.

• The Third held in May 1985 in Algiers, Algeria under the theme “Energy and Arab Cooperation” which was adopted as a permanent theme.

• The Fourth held in March 1988 in Baghdad, Iraq when it was decided to convene the Conference every four years (rather than three); hence the Fifth Conference was schedule to be held in Amman, Jordan in 1992. 

Events witnessed by the Arab world in 1990 however led to the postponement of the Fifth Conference.  It was later convened in Cairo, Egypt in May 1994.

In the meantime the merger of the Arab Organization for Mineral Resources and the Arab industrial Development Organization to form the Arab Industrial Development and Miniring Organization (AIDMO), meant  that the latter joined OAPEC, AFESD and the League of Arab States as a sponsor of the Conference.

• The Sixth Conference was held in Damascus, Syria in May 1998.  The Seventh in Cairo, Egypt in May 2002 and the Eighth in Amman, Jordan in 2006.

 

 

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