The year 2020 was a breaking point in the development of the global community. The measures to combat the spread of the corona virus and the restrictions it has caused have forced us all to rethink the importance of face-to-face meetings and the need for open dialogue in all areas of activities.
In accordance with the decision of the IBC President and the Board of Executive Directors, the 23rd Annual General Meeting of the Congress was held remotely. The remote format of the Annual General Meeting provided a written voting by members of Congress on all procedural matters.
In the second half of the year, the two IBC Working Committees organized their first meetings via videoconference. On July 8, 2020, the first ever online meeting in the history of the Congress was held by the "Information and Communications" Working Committee on "O&G Digitalization within New Reality: Conceptions, Drivers, Barriers and Points of Economic Growth" supported by SAP CIS. The event was moderated by Ms. Alexandra Suvorova, economic news anchor of Russia 24 TV channel. The online meeting of the “Human Resources” Committee held on September 25, 2020 was attended by 72 people from 32 companies. The participants discussed the "Effective staff performance during the remote work period. International Experience" addressing the current developments and challenges faced by all IBC member -companies. The further realization of the IBC project: "Youth Day: Energy Challenge" in online format was also presented during the meeting.
The meeting of the "Energy” Working Committee held on December 2, 2020, focused on the "Decarbonization of Natural Gas and Hydrogen Economy in Germany and Europe?". The online session was attended by 60 guests from more than 10 countries. The meeting participants addressed the current development of hydrogen as energy source.
Even though the work of the IBC did not stop despite the imposed restrictions due to the further spread of the coronavirus, the IBC members expressed their willingness to come back to face-to-face meeting next year.
