The Meeting of the Conference was organised in two Sessions over one and half days. The half day Statutory Session, open only to delegates of the Energy Charter, was held on Thursday 3 December and the full day Ministerial Session, open also to international organisations and the business sector, was held on Friday 4 December 2015.

During the first half of the Statutory Session, the Conference discussed its activities and priorities for the coming years as well as its internal operational mode. In the second half, open also to the observers, the Conference reported on its activities for 2015, including the future outlook from  the Secretary General, Dr. Urban Rusnák, as well as the Working Groups perspective. The European Commission also presented its Action on Energy Policy in Eastern Partnership countries and Central Asia while the partner countries called on a stronger involvement and full use of the potential of the Energy Charter framework to trigger progress towards strengthening long-term energy policies in the region.

During the Ministerial Session entitled “Fostering regional cooperation through cross border energy trade”, various Ministers and Heads of Delegations from the Energy Charter constituency as well as high level representatives from international organisations and the energy industry exchanged views on how to provide for a global forum for discussion of the issues related to the promotion of regional cooperation through cross-border energy trade, power market integration and investment into clean and sustainable energy. The main topics tackled included:

• Further promotion of the benefits of regional cooperation within the Energy Charter framework;
• A need to encourage the creation of regional power pools, interconnections and electricity trade as a means to ensure energy security and access to reliable and affordable electricity;
• A need for a multilateral legal framework to facilitate energy transportation, transit and trade;
• Benefits of regional cooperation towards better integration of renewable energy sources;
• Better promotion, advancement and scale-up of the necessary investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Japan assumes the Chairmanship of the Energy Charter Conference from 1 January 2016 in succession to Georgia.