International Business Congress holds 25th anniversary General Meeting

The Presiding Committee Meeting and the 25th anniversary General Meeting of the International Business Congress (IBC) moderated by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and President of the IBC, took place today.

In his opening statement, Alexey Miller highlighted that the IBC significantly contributes to the implementation of international projects and pointed out that in the current situation it is particularly important to maintain constructive cooperation among the energy market players.

“We are well aware that natural gas is a reliable and efficient source of clean energy and the demand for it will only continue to grow. However, the affordability of gas in many countries will depend on the well-balanced, sustainable and responsible approach of energy companies and government agencies based on economic feasibility and strategic planning,” said Alexey Miller.

The IBC members, inter alia, reviewed the results of the IBC's work in 2022, approved its budget for 2023 and defined areas for its further development.

The “Affordable Energy for the Development of Global Economy” conference took place during the 25th General Meeting of the IBC.

During his speech at the conference, Oleg Aksyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee – Head of Department at Gazprom, noted that the Company continues to carry out the work aimed at increasing the affordability of natural gas to ensure the growth of national and global economy. At the same time, the year 2022 showed how regulatory decisions can artificially limit the energy affordability and cause a record surge in gas prices, thus slowing down the economic development on a global scale. Nevertheless, according to the forecasts, the Asia-Pacific countries – the fastest-growing global economies – focus on natural gas in the long term.

Ahsanul Amin, Project Director of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX), El Hacene Louzazna, Natural Gas Division Director at the Algerian National Agency for the Valorization of Hydrocarbon Resources (ALNAFT), and Satya Widya Yudha, Member of the Indonesia's National Energy Council, also presented their reports at the conference.