Another step in the energy cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region
On 15 September 2017, the OME, as Secretariat of the UfM Gas Platform, organised the kick-off meetings of the first two UfM Gas Platform Working Groups at its premises in Paris. Aimed for the studies “An Advisory assessment of the existing and future gas supply-demand balance in the Euro-Mediterranean region” and “The role of LNG in European-Mediterranean gas supply security”, the meetings gathered more than 25 delegates from both shores of the Mediterranean. The objective of the meetings was two-fold: to agree on the final contents of the above mentioned studies, and to determine contributors, on a voluntary basis, to specific chapters. The plan is to have a draft report for both studies by the end of 2017, and to complete them by March 2018.
Initiated in Malta in July 2014, confirmed in Rome in November 2014 and launched in June 2015 in Brussels, the objective of the UfM Platform on Gas is to enhance the cooperation in the Euro-Med region between all stakeholders of the gas chain, in a bottom-up approach to improve gas security by identifying barriers and opportunities. The “Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Énergie” (OME) runs the Platform’s secretariat in close coordination with the UfM co-presidency.
The UfM Platform on Gas is one of the three UfM Energy Platforms established by EU Energy Ministers, Ministers of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries, and the European Commission to further strengthen regional cooperation in the Mediterranean for ensuring secure, affordable and sustainable energy for the region and beyond.