The Secretary General referred to his statement of 17 March 2014 and to his hope that the situation in Ukraine would be resolved peacefully in line with the principles of international law and with full respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

None of Energy Charter activities should be interpreted as direct or indirect recognition of the self-proclaimed "Republic of Crimea" or its recognition as a territorial entity of the Russian Federation. The Secretary General reiterated that the Energy Charter is a technical political organisation whose mandate is to ensure the energy security of a large constituency which extends beyond the borders of the European Union, the Russian Federation or Ukraine.

The subsequent discussions of the Contact Group focused on the outline of an Early Warning Mechanism (EWM) based on the principles of the Energy Charter of 1991. The EWM might operate on three levels: preventive energy diplomacy, confidence building and emergency measures. The mechanism would be complementary to the existing EU-Russia Early Warning Mechanism and to the Terms of Reference dated 10 January 2009 for the monitoring of the transit of natural gas though Ukraine.

The Secretariat's Programme of Work for 2014 already provided a mandate to prepare an EWM. The work of the Contact Group had the potential to provide significant input to that.

A provisional date of 4 April 2014 was agreed for the next meeting of the Contact Group.