The 17th IBC Annual General Meeting was dedicated to “Gas motor fuel for European environment” and was held at the invitation of the Greek company Prometheus Gas on 29-30 May 2014 in Athens, Greece.
The forum was attended by Mr. Yannis Maniatis, Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change of the Government of Greece and Mr. Spyros Palaiogiannis, Managing Director of the Public Gas Corporation.
The speakers for the International Conference was arranged so that the audience could familiarize themselves with the positions of the heads of the leading European energy companies and influential international structures on this topic.
The following energy company executives addressed the focal topic: Dr. A. Miller, Chairman of the Management Commity of Gazprom; Mr. Wim Groenendijk, Vice President International affairs and regulations of N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie; Mr. Christopher Delbrueck, Chairman of the Management Board of E.ON Global Commodities SE; Mr. V. Krupenkov, Director General, Gazprom Germania; Mr. Matthias Maedge, Director for EU affairs at NGVA Europe.
In his address at the 17th Annual General Meeting of the EBC, Dr. A. Miller emphasized the growing demand for gas in the Asia-Pacific region and highlighted the current situation with Russian gas supplies on a global scale. Speeches on NGVs and the environment emphasized the important role of gas in Europe’s energy mix, the potential of LNG to make transport more environmentally friendly, the prospects for NGV promotion and the European transport policy development. The delegates of the 17th AGM watched a video on the prospects for NGVs use in transportation.
A unique performance of folklore groups, professional singers and dancers from Greece and neighboring Southern European countries has been a part of the cultural program at the gala dinner for the AGM participants.
In 2014, the EBC launched three new projects. A comprehensive research work on white storks monitoring and inventory in Armenia, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovenia, and Czech Republic was carried out in the framework of the “White Stork” project, executed by the “Ecology and Healthcare” Working Committee (2014 – 2016). In total 89 artificial nesting platforms have been built. Moreover, the project executers launched an extensive information campaign aimed at further development of environmental protection measures.
In the framework of the “Parental School System” project, initiated by the “Information and Communication” Working Committee, a system for school safety and the improved information support had been provided at the “Vuk Karadzic” school in Serbia.
The “Assessment of integral environmental and economic effects associated with the South Stream project for European countries”, initiated by the “Industry and Construction” Working Committee was stopped due to the suspension of the South Stream project in 2014.
