The Energy Charter Secretary General Urban Rusnák spoke at this important event. He addressed the Energy Charter Treaty's contribution to global energy governance and invited OPEC and its member countries, seven of which are already Energy Charter observers, to contribute to the Energy Charter Process.

On the margins of the Seminar, Dr. Rusnák held a series of high-level meetings. He spoke with Mr. Abdallah El Badri, OPEC Secretary General; Mr. Ali Al-Yabhouni, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Governor for OPEC; Mr. Aldo Flores-Quiroga, the International Energy Forum (IEF) Secretary General; H.E. Youcif Yousfi, Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines; H.E. Abdulrahman Benyezza, Oil and Gas Minister of Libya; and Amb. Ihor Prokopchuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to International Organisations in Vienna. Dr. Rusnák outlined the Energy Charter's new policy on consolidation, expansion and outreach, informed his counterparts of the ongoing modernisation of the Energy Charter Process and highlighted the important role observer countries could play by contributing to these modernisation efforts.