The First BRICS Energy Cooperation Forum was Held in Beijing


time:2022-06-23 14:32

With the theme of “Deepening BRICS Energy Cooperation for Green Transition and Development”, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the Division of Energy and Mining Engineering of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) hosted the First BRICS Energy Cooperation Forum during which an initiative was released.On the eve of the opening of 2022 BRICS Business Forum, the First BRICS Energy Cooperation Forum, co-hosted by CNPC, a member of the BRICS Business Council China Chapter, and the Division of Energy and Mining Engineering of CAE, was held in Beijing on June 21st.


 Aiming at serving BRICS and embracing the world through business cooperation, and themed with “Deepening BRICS Energy Cooperation for Green Transition and Development”, the Forum was divided into three parts: Opening Session, Release of Initiative, and Dialogue Sessions.


Dai Houliang, member of BRICS Business Council China Chapter & Chairman of CNPC, Chen Siqing, Chair of BRICS Business Council China Chapter & Chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Zhou Shouwei, Director of Division of Energy and Mining Engineering of CAE, delivered welcome remarks at the opening session. A total of 71 guests attended the forum, including representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CAE, working groups of BRICS Business Council, energy companies of BRICS countries, diplomatic envoys to China, and international organizations and universities.

Dai Houliang expressed that the BRICS countries, as representatives of emerging markets and developing countries, have been given much attention and expectation in participating in global governance and stabilizing global energy market. BRICS countries, covering both major energy producers and consumers, play a pivotal role in global energy governance. In recent years, the scale of bilateral energy trade among BRICS countries has been expanding and collaboration on energy projects has been deepening, laying a solid foundation for further cooperation. To build the "Energy BRICS" and shoulder the responsibility as the Energy and Green Economy Working Group of BRICS Business Council China Chapter, CNPC will strengthen cooperation with energy companies of BRICS countries to promote development and innovation for win-win achievement.


First, translating BRICS energy cooperation into tangible benefits with efforts being made to research on relevant policy systems, infrastructure facilities and fundamental theories for promoting transformation and application of technological achievement.


Second, pushing forward co-construction and sharing of BRICS energy information platform with priorities being given to enhancing the exchange and sharing of energy policies, information, cases, and cooperation projects for exploring energy cooperation opportunities.


Third, making efforts to improve opening-up and multilateral collaboration in the energy sector among BRICS countries to deepen all-around and multi-layer cooperation, and jointly participating in global energy governance to form a multi-party cooperation environment for development integration and benefit-sharing.


Fourth, working to convene BRICS Energy Cooperation Forum annually in a bid to consolidate the BRICS cooperation mechanism through communication and exchanges, expand the market and strengthen the momentum for development.


Chen Siqing pointed out that the BRICS Business Council attached great importance to energy cooperation, and highly recognized and placed great expectations on the work of the Green Economy Working Group. The Council would actively respond to the Initiative and provide high-quality energy financial services, he added.


Zhou Shouwei said that CAE would fully leverage the multidisciplinary, cross-domain and inter-industry expertise of its academicians, take CNPC as the bridge to strengthen partnership with the Energy and Green Economy Working Group of BRICS Business Council, further promote the progress of energy technology through cooperation and innovation, and contribute wisdom and strength to energy security as well as economic and social development of the BRICS countries.

Heads of Working Groups of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa Chapters of the BRICS Business Council congratulated on the successful convening of the forum via videos. Citing Brazil’s power grid layout planning as an example, the head of Brazil Group pointed out the significance of regional integrated development in the fields of energy and green economy. The head of Russia Group stressed that partnership was an effective way to solve the global energy supply crisis. The head of India Group discussed the roadmap to achieve the goals of energy equality and net-zero emissions. And the head of the South Africa Group reiterated that it was necessary to make use of the BRICS countries' energy resources and technological advantages to contribute to the sustainable development of energy.

At the forum, Dou Lirong, head of Energy and Green Economy Working Group of BRICS Business Council China Chapter & Executive Vice President of Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, CNPC, released the Contributing Energy to BRICS Sustainable Development in the Post-Pandemic Era Initiative. Published in four languages of Chinese, English, Russian and Portuguese, the Initiative advocated ten actions from four aspects, including maintaining energy market stability, energy poverty alleviation, cooperation across energy industrial chain, and promoting the achievement of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. All parties agreed that energy companies should work shoulder to shoulder to implement the consensus reached at the BRICS summit, contribute to promoting the "2030 Sustainable Development Goals" and the Nationally Determined Contributions agreed in the Paris Agreement, and help BRICS countries achieve high-quality development in the post-pandemic era. The release of this Initiative enriched BRICS’ "China Year" results and marked a new milestone for BRICS cooperation in energy.

At the forum, CNPC Economics & Technology Research Institute was invited to make a keynote speech entitled "Energy Cooperation among BRICS: Present and Future", in which the prospects and challenges of BRICS energy cooperation under the current situation were discussed. Suggestions on strengthening energy cooperation in areas of establishing energy producer and consumer alliance, trade settlement, technological cooperation, optimizing industrial chain, building the energy information platform, and strengthening think tank exchanges were put forward in the speech. 13 guests including representatives from five-member-state chapters of BRICS Business Council, academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and representatives of energy companies, international organizations and universities were invited for the two dialogue sessions around Taking the Pulse of Energy Development for a Shared Green Future and Blueprint of Cooperation for Win-win Development respectively. They were full of confidence in the prospects of energy and green economic cooperation among BRICS countries and put forward many constructive suggestions for further strengthening of BRICS energy cooperation.

As the main strategic economic force in their respective regions, the BRICS countries account for more than one-third of the world's energy production and consumption which shares are increasing year-on-year. Energy cooperation is an important part of BRICS economic and trade cooperation. Taking this forum as a new starting point, the Energy and Green Economy Working Group of BRICS Business Council will work hand in hand with BRICS partners, focus on the common interest of emerging markets and developing countries, promote BRICS energy cooperation to achieve fruitful results, inject new momentum to global energy sustainable development, and contribute to the BRICS’ "China Year" with tangible results.

The forum was live-streamed in three languages of Chinese, English and Russian, attracting 1373 experts and scholars at home and abroad to watch online.


(Source:China National Petroleum Corporation)