Energy Charter Secretary-General Dr Urban Rusnák addressed the conference with the opening remarks along with Mr Dominique Ristori, Director General for Energy of the European Commission, and Mr Luc Devigne, Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia of the European External Action Service. In his speech, Dr Rusnák stressed the importance of energy cooperation between the EU and Central Asia as well as highlighted the role of the International Energy Charter to facilitate this cooperation. 

The Energy Charter Secretariat also contributed to the session on Regional Cooperation in the field of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources. The Secretariat’s officials underlined the challenges which Central Asian power systems face, such as ageing infrastructure, under-investment and performance inefficiencies of public monopolies. The role of Afghanistan in facilitating energy cooperation in Central Asia was also stressed. 

The conference was built on the previous event Sustainable Energy in Central Asia: Business Opportunities and Technology Transfer organised by DG ENERGY on 6 November 2014.