Energy Dialogue Kicks off with Keynote presentations and interventions by top experts from across the region

Now in its 12th edition, having been launched by IENE in 2007 in Thessaloniki, the SE Energy Dialogue has emerged over the years as the region's seminal event on energy policy and business, attracting hundreds of senior executives and high level experts from the region and further afield.

The 12th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, themed "In Search of a New Energy Direction", focuses on the radical changes now taking place in the economic and energy environment, as well as the Energy Transition as a top priority for the wider region of South East Europe.

The purpose of this regional forum, which is being convened by IENE under the auspices of Greece’s Ministry of Environment and Energy, and with the support of leading international and regional organizations and major energy companies, is to bring together high-ranking government officials, senior business executives and energy experts from all countries of SE Europe and beyond, with the objective being the exchange of information and ideas, networking and the furthering of co-operation for the tackling of the increased global and regional energy and environmental challenges.

This year's event comes amid deep disruption and uncertainty caused by the pandemic, which requires the development and promotion of well-designed energy policies in order to achieve a sustainable energy system that will be able to meet global climate targets. At the same time, this year’s forum is highly topical given EU's major drive to decarbonize and promote its ambitious New Green Deal and at the same time aim for full electricity and gas integration.

The agenda of the 12^th SE Europe Energy Dialogue also covers the latest developments in the region's evolving natural gas, electricity and RES markets, as well as the ongoing energy partnerships with major oil and gas suppliers.

In his opening remarks the Chairman of IENE, Mr. Costis Stambolis referred to the achievements made in the region over the last 2 years. "On the supply side”, IENE’s Chairman said, "we had the completion of really major infrastructure projects, including the TANAP-TAP gas pipelines, the Turk Stream gas pipeline, the arrival of the new FSRU gas terminal at Krk in Croatia, the promotion of several sea electricity interconnections in Greece, including the Peloponnese-Crete one (originally conceived back in 1985), the start of construction of the Greek-Bulgarian gas interconnector, the start of construction of Turkey's first nuclear power complex in Akkuyu, the completion of several wind farm and photovoltaic projects in West Balkan countries but also in the rest of the region, and the setting up of the SE Electricity Network Coordination Centre in Thessaloniki, which brings together several of the region's electricity transmission operators. We also had some major gas finds in the Turkish sector of the Black Sea and offshore in Cyprus and Egypt. In addition, we have been witnessing further electricity and gas market integration across the region as markets eventually open up to free competition, where energy exchanges and gas trading hubs are playing an increasingly important role.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA), the leading global energy organization is strongly represented at senior level in this year’s Energy Dialogue. At the start of the conference Mr. Kieran McNamara, Senior Analyst of the IEA, presented the iconic report of the IEA, World Energy Outlook 2020, while Jeremy Sung, Energy Efficiency Policy Analyst of the IEA, will present on Thursday, 10/12, the first results of the Energy Efficiency analysis that is currently being prepared by the IEA. World Energy Outlook 2020 focuses on the developments that will take place in the next decade, by exploring a number of different approaches to the global community emerging from the crisis. The new report provides the IEA's latest analysis of the impact of the pandemic, which notes, among other things, that global energy demand is expected to decline by 5% by 2020, energy-related CO2 emissions by 7% and energy investments by 18%.

Other keynote speakers in the first day of the 12th SE Europe Energy Dialogue included the following:

·Prof. Pantelis Capros, Professor of Energy Economics at the National Technical University of Athens, Scientific Coordinator of E3Modelling and Chairman of the Scientific Committee of IENE (Greece)

·Dr. Katja Yafimava, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (UK),

·Mr. Spyros Paleogiannis, Managing Partner, Medgas & More Services Ltd & Partner of IENE, (Cyprus),

·Ms. Boyana Achovski, Secretary General, Gas Infrastructure Europe (Brussels)

·Mr. Nikos Satras, Head of Natural Gas Business Unit, MotorOil (Greece)

·Dr. Yurdakul Yigitguden, Independent Energy Advisor and Former Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environment Activities, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Turkey).

·Dr. Stavri Dhima, Independent Energy Consultant (Albania).

·Mr. Mihailo Mihailovic, Independent Energy Consultant, (Serbia).

·Dr. Gina Cohen, Lecturer, Gas Analyst and Consultant on Natural Gas (Israel).

·Mr. Dimitris Mezartasoglou, Head of Research at IENE (Greece).

The Lead Strategic Sponsor of the 12th SE Europe Energy Dialogue is Hellenic Petroleum, while the following companies acted as sponsors of this year's event: Hellenic Energy Exchange (EnEx Group), Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm, TERNA Energy, DEPA and Sunlight.

Finally, a number of companies supported the 12th Energy Dialogue for SE Europe including EnSCo, Essencon, Grant Thornton, EnergyLive, EuroAsia Interconnector and Lamnidis Law.

For more information, the SEEED program and free registration visit the following link: https://www.iene.eu/en/congress/29/12th-se-europe-energy-dialogue?fbclid=IwAR1XI_uaVP0ONQ-g0fa8b3bdbAqlF9uSa6rAKkeCbOfOs2JKj93DkunXG48.