Addressing the Forum on behalf of the International Energy Charter, Knowledge Centre Principal Coordinator, Dr Marat Terterov, chaired a high level policy debate on the topic of ‘whether India will overtake China as the new partner of choice for the Middle Eastern energy sector’. Dr Terterov also took the occasion of his invitation to address the forum in order to hold meetings with senior UAE energy officials, including H.E. Dr Matar Al Neyadi, Under-secretary of Energy of the Government of the UAE. Dr Terterov also held informal talks with officials from the Bureau of Energy Resources, US Department of State, who were also participants of the Forum. Both the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America are observers of the Energy Charter Conference, having signed the International Energy Charter Political Declaration of 2015. The United States has also signed the European Energy Charter political declaration of 1991.