Lankan envoy and delegation attend opening session of Russian Energy Week Forum addressed by Putin

Friday, 5 October 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Russian Energy Week (REW) International Forum is taking place from 3-6 October, in the Central Exhibition Hall ‘Manège’ in Moscow. The special plenary session of the Forum was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who addressed the audience with his speech ‘Sustainable Energy for a Changing World’.

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka attended the Plenary Session which gathered a number of business, political, and administrative elite representatives from every continent, in an effort to enhance international cooperation in the energy sector and meet new challenges of economic, environmental, and effective management agenda. REW was attended by a Sri Lankan delegation consisting of Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy Merille Goonetilleke, Additional General Manager of Ceylon Electricity Board S.D.W. Gunawardena, Director General of Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat Vajira Dassanayake. The delegation was accompanied by Nirosha K. Herath, Second Secretary of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in the Russian Federation.

President Putin led a panel discussion which included the Saudi Minister of Oil, and top executives of Shell and TOTAL, the Western European multinationals. Replying to questions from the moderator, a US TV journalist from PBS, President Putin criticised the policy of sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, sharply rebutted charges regarding the Skripal affair, said that he wished all sanctions on Russia would be imposed at once so that Russia could respond appropriately, and responded to a question about recent remarks by some officials that their countries would not militarily withdraw from Syria so long as Iran did not, by saying that there were only two ways to have an external military presence in Syria in accordance with international law – namely to be invited by its legitimate government or by means of a UN Security Council resolution.

In his concluding remarks the Russian President said that his faith is reposed in humanity’s ability to find solutions to the problems it faces and that he places great hope and trust in the United Nations.

The main goal REW is to demonstrate the prospects of fuel and oil industry in Russia while providing an upgraded platform for international cooperation in the energy sector. This Forum topics cover the development of the gas industry, coal industry, oil industry, atomic industry, petrochemistry, electricity, energy conservation, and increased energy sufficiency. At the end of the first day of REW, Alexandre Novak, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, welcomed the participants with an address speech at the reception cocktail hosted at the Four Seasons Hotel.