DUSHANBE, December 2, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan’s Ambassador to the European Union Rustamjon Soliyev met with newly appointed Secretary General of the Energy Charter Conference (ECC) Urban Rusnak on the sidelines of the 22nd meeting of the Energy Charter Conference that took place in Sofia, Bulgaria on November 29, the Tajik MFA information department reports.
Tajik diplomat congratulated Ambassador Urban Rusnak on his appointment as the ECC Secretary General.
In the course of the talks, the sides discussed cooperation between Tajikistan and the Energy Charter Conference. They reportedly assessed positively the cooperation process.
On behalf of the Government of Tajikistan, Soliyev invited Rusnak to pay a visit to Tajikistan.
Established by the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty, the Energy Charter Conference, an inter-governmental organization, is the governing and decision-making body for the Energy Charter process, and was.
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is an international agreement which provides a multilateral framework for energy trade, transit and investments. Originally, the Energy Charter process based on integrating the energy sectors of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War into the broader European and world markets.
The original Energy Charter declaration was signed in The Hague on December 17, 1991. It was a political declaration of principles for international energy including trade, transit and investment, together with the intention to negotiate a legally-binding treaty. The legally-binding treaty was signed in Lisbon in December 1994, together with a Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects (PEEREA). The treaty and the protocol came into effect in April 1998; an amendment to the trade-related provisions reflecting the change from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to World Trade Organization (WTO) processes was also agreed that month.
All states who have signed or acceded to the Treaty are members of the Conference, which meets on a regular basis to discuss issues affecting energy cooperation among the Treaty”s signatories, to review the implementation of the provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty and the Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects, and to consider possible new instruments and joint activities within the Energy Charter framework.
