Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his speech at the 20th World Energy Congress on 15 November 2007 in Rome, said “more predictable and transparent trade rules could benefit both energy-importing and energy-exporting countries, and, beyond them, companies engaged in energy trade and consumers - all of us”. He asked participants to call on governments to “take bold steps to run the last mile” in the Doha Round. This is what he said:
It is a pleasure for me to participate in this 20th World Energy Congress. The vision of your founding father Daniel Dunlop continues through the actions of the World Energy Council whose goal - the promotion of sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all people - is more relevant than ever.
It is good to see the business community taking the lead and assuming its collective responsibility vis-à-vis one of today's biggest challenges: responding to the world's exploding need for energy and its impact on sustainable development.
In our collective search for better global governance on energy, most now recognize that market mechanisms have proved their value. As noted by your in-coming Council Chairman, markets remain the most efficient way to allocate resources. But markets must be governed by transparent and predictable rules.
And this may be where the WTO, as a forum for the negotiation and enforcement of multilateral trade rules has a role to play. The Report you have prepared on trade rules and energy is a timely contribution to this debate.
marketing@alchempro.com
