The Minister of Energy and Energy Industries and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stuart R. Young, delivered opening remarks as Head of Trinidad and Tobago’s delegation at the 23rd Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), today, Tuesday 16th November 2021.
This meeting was held virtually under the presidency of the Plurinational State of Bolivia with His Excellency Franklin Molina Ortiz, Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energies of the Plurinational State of Bolivia and President of the Ministerial Meeting, giving the welcome address and His Excellency Dr. Yury P. Sentyurin, Secretary-General of the GECF, adding to the introductory remarks. The objective of this important event was to address current issues related to the gas industry and associated areas including economic and energy sustainability.
In his address to this annual gathering of the world’s leading gas exporting countries, Minister Young acknowledged natural gas as the cleanest fossil fuel and stated that “We all recognize and accept that global climate change is an important facet and a problem that we are facing, but we must not let natural gas and its by-products be caught up in the negative conversations. We must lead the global conversation with respect to the benefits of gas and the longevity of gas as it will be here to stay as the globe’s energy needs expand and increase.”
The Minister also outlined domestic adaption and mitigation measures towards decarbonization and confirmed the renewal of Trinidad and Tobago’s commitment to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s) post-COP26. According to Minister Young, the achievement of our NDC’s can be advanced through the utilization of GECF instruments such as the Environmental Knowledge and Solutions Framework, the Gas Research Institute and the leveraging of the experience of member countries who are at the implementation phase of their transition. Accordingly, Minister Young reaffirmed Trinidad and Tobago’s commitment to the GECF and the continued co-operation with member countries in the promotion of natural gas in a low carbon future, with an emphasis on the benefit to our citizens.
Mrs. Penelope Bradshaw-Niles, Permanent Secretary (Ag) at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries was appointed as the Chairman of the GECF’s Executive Board for 2022.
The GECF is an international governmental organisation that provides the framework for the exchange of experiences and information on hydrocarbons among the world’s hydrocarbon exporting countries.