On the margins of the first day of the Assembly, the Secretary General met with Dr. Magdy Rady, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Mr. Mashal Al- Thani, the Manager of Energy Policy and International Relations of the Ministry of Energy and Industry of Qatar, and with Mrs. Rachel Kyte, the Special Representative of the Secretary General & Chief Executive Officer, United Nations – Sustainable Energy for All.

On the second day of the IRENA Assembly, Dr. Rusnák took part in the Ministerial Roundtable on Mobilising Investment to Accelerate the Energy Transition after COP21, where he stressed the role that the Energy Charter Treaty can play in scaling up investments in renewables and other different projects in the transition towards the goals of the COP21 agreement. By promoting and protecting foreign investment, while fostering more open and competitive international energy markets on the principles of transparency and non-discrimination, the Energy Charter Treaty provisions on investment will lower the degree of political risks in the host country. The latter considerably affect the decision of foreign companies on whether to make an investment in the first place or not, and what level of return it would require. The lower the perceived risk, the more capital is likely to be invested and the more potential revenue the host country will gain. By reducing the political risks that foreign investors face in the host country, the Energy Charter Treaty seeks to boost their confidence and to contribute to an increase in international investment flows.

On the same day the Secretary General met bilaterally with Dr. Ibrahim Saif, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Jordan, Eng. Artur Nazarian, the Minister of Energy and Water of Lebanon, Eng. Abdullah Al Akwa’a, the Minister of Energy and Electricity of Yemen, Amb. Ron Adam, the Special Envoy of Energy of Israel as well as with the Heads of Delegation of Senegal and Mongolia.