The Award was collected by Amb. Johannes Douma, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Georgia on behalf of Minister Kamp, who addressed the Conference meeting via a video message. In his speech, he thanked the delegates for bestowing this honour upon him and the Netherlands, and called on more countries to join the Energy Charter Process.

Minister Kamp was nominated for the Energy Charter Award for taking political ownership and putting together an ad-hoc Conference of the Energy Charter in The Hague in May this year to adopt and sign an updated political declaration – the International Energy Charter. The declaration effectively paves the way forward for the Energy Charter Process as the global multilateral instrument for cooperation in the energy sector in the 21st century. His endeavours culminated in the adoption and signature of the International Energy Charter by more than 70 countries and international organisations.

Background

The Energy Charter Award was introduced in 2013 in order to recognise the outstanding role of individuals and entities in the development of the Energy Charter Process. The first recipient was the former Prime Minister of The Netherlands, Mr Ruud Lubbers, whom many consider as one of the founding fathers of the Energy Charter Process. That award was made at the Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus in 2013. Last year, at the Conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, the Award was issued to Mr. Gunther Oettinger – the European Commissioner for Energy since 2010 and formal head of the European Union delegation to the Energy Charter.