A major expansion of the Institute's partnership base was realized in the latest Annual General Meeting (AGM) which took place on February 12 in Athens. Following a proposal tabled by IENE's Executive Committee to the AGM, which met in quorum, the partners present unanimously voted to accept as full partners nine new colleagues from eight different countries in the SE European region. These countries include Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Israel, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.A major expansion of the Institute's partnership base was realized in the latest Annual General Meeting (AGM) which took place on February 12 in Athens. Following a proposal tabled by IENE's Executive Committee to the AGM, which met in quorum, the partners present unanimously voted to accept as full partners nine new colleagues from eight different countries in the SE European region. These countries include Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Israel, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.
As IENE's chairman Mr. Costis Stambolis stated in his supporting statement to the AGM, the expansion of the Institute's partnership base is in line with an old plan conceived and formulated by a small group of IENE's founding partners with the aim of establishing a truly regional institute and think tank in SE Europe until now an expansion of this scale was not possible due to administrative constraints. "This is a major step in the development of our Institute which was established in 2003 and is now present through a variety of activities and initiatives in almost all countries of the region", stated the chairman of IENE soon after the decision for the Institute's expansion had been confirmed." He further added, "This is a watershed moment for IENE while the integration of the new partners in the Institute's structure is a major challenge ahead of us".
According to the above thinking a regional organization such as IENE cannot really serve its mission, let alone develop further its vision, unless its Governing Board, which in effect is the partners assembly, is enriched by partners from all different countries of the region. As the chairman of IENE pointed out during the latest AGM, "although the present expansion includes partners from eight new countries, in addition to Greece,it by no means seals the Institute's planning and aspirations for the creation of a truly regional organization . "In this context the Executive Committee is already considering proposals for the inclusion of Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Kosovo in the next round of invitations to new partners which is likely to take place before the end of the year”.
The colleques who were invited to join IENE as partners and have since accepted are the following:
(1)Prof. Vesna Borozan, Professor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, University of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, [Skopje, North Macedonia]
(2)Dr. Gina Cohen, Lecturer and Consultant on Natural Gas Industry, [Herzliya, Israel]
(3)Prof. Stavri Dhima, Independent Energy Consultant and Head of Primary Policies Sector, Ministry of Economy Trade and Energy, [Tirana, Albania]
(4)Ms. Eugenia Gusilov, Director, Romania Energy Center (ROEC), [Bucharest, Romania]
(5)Mr. Iosif Iosif, CEO, Financial Media Way (FMW), [Nicosia, Cyprus]
(6)Mr. Mihailo Mihailovic, Independent Energy Consultant, [Belgrade, Serbia]
(7)Mr. Slavtcho Neykov, Chairman of the Board, Energy Management Institute, [Sofia, Bulgaria]
(8)Mr. Andreas Petropouleas, Director of Energy Management, Elpedison and Chairman of IENE’s Electricity Committee, [Athens, Greece]
(9)Mr. Gökhan Yardım, Partner and Manager, ADG Anadolu Naturalgas Consultancy and Trade Ltd., [Ankara, Turkey]
The Institute now comprises 39 partners in its Governing Board, otherwise known as the Partners General Assembly. The next meeting of GB will take place in Thessaloniki on the sidelines of the 12thSEE Energy Dialogue, in the afternoon of June 25 and details will be communicated well in advance to all partners.
