> P.O. Box 20401 2500 EK Den Haag The Netherlands Directorate-General for Energy, Telecommunications House of Representatives and Competition of the States General Energy Market Department Binnenhof 4 Visit address 2513 AA THE HAGUE Bezuidenhoutseweg 73 2594 AC Den Haag The Netherlands Postal address P.O. Box 20401 2500 EK Den Haag The Netherlands Billing address P.O. Box 16180 2500 BD Den Haag The Netherlands Date Organisation Code Re Ministerial Conference on the International Energy Charter 20-21 May 00000001003214369000 2015 T +31 (0)70 379 8911 www.rijksoverheid.nl/ez Dear Madam President, The Ministerial Conference on the International Energy Charter will be held on 20 Our ref. and 21 May 2015 in the Netherlands. This letter fulfils the promise I made on 10 DGETM-EM / 15014527 1 June 2014 to inform your House about the Netherlands’ offer to organise this Your ref. event in The Hague. Encl. The main purpose of the conference is to adopt and sign the modernised Energy 1 Charter, which will be known as the International Energy Charter. The aim of this conference and political declaration is to stimulate international energy cooperation. I am organising this ministerial conference in close cooperation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. What is the purpose of this initiative? The Energy Charter was born from a Dutch initiative resulting from the 1990 Lubbers Plan. This plan envisaged the integration of the energy market of Eastern Europe, including the post-Soviet states, with Western Europe and the international market, and it was enshrined in a political declaration, the Energy Charter2, signed in The Hague in 1991. As Depositary of the Energy Charter, the Netherlands fulfills a ceremonial role when new countries sign this declaration. The main principles then were the efficient functioning of energy markets, investment protection, free transit of energy resources, promoting trade in energy and energy-related goods and cooperation in energy policy development, including energy efficiency and environmental protection. The Energy Charter Treaty was developed on the basis of this political declaration. The Energy Charter Treaty was signed in 1994 in Lisbon and entered into force in 1998. This multilateral treaty establishes rules concerning energy trade, energy transit, investment protection and international arbitration. This makes the treaty an important framework for international energy regulations, which offers legal certainty to international energy companies. In this respect, the treaty provides confidence for investment 1 Parliamentary documents 2013/14, 21 501-33, no. 489 2 Official name: European Energy Charter Page 1 of 4 Directorate-General for Energy, Telecommunications and Competition Energy Market Department Our ref. DGETM-EM / 15014527 and trade. Moreover, only signatories to the 1991 Energy Charter may accede to the treaty. After Russia decided not to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty in 2009, just at a time when countries outside the original region were beginning to express an interest, a process began to enable the Energy Charter to transcend its former Eurasian context. This process envisaged removing barriers faced by potential candidates for acceding to the Energy Charter Treaty. This includes for example the outdated references to the Soviet Union and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). In response, the Energy Charter Conference, the decision-making body of the Energy Charter, decided in 2012 to start negotiations to forge a new political declaration. The objective of the declaration is to strengthen the profile of the Energy Charter and the Energy Charter Treaty as a framework for international energy cooperation at an international level, and to promote the accession of new countries and active cooperation within the framework of the Energy Charter. The International Energy Charter In 2013 and 2014, a large number of countries (the 52 member states to the Energy Charter Treaty3, several observers4 and countries invited to the negotiations5) were involved in negotiating the text. Also a new name was established, the International Energy Charter. Please find enclosed the definitive negotiated text (final draft), presented to the Energy Charter Conference in November 2014 in Kazakhstan. The new text has been stripped of its outdated elements and identifies current and future energy challenges. New elements in the text have been incorporated primarily by potential new members such as China, Iran and Morocco. Key new points of emphasis include the importance of access to energy and the importance of renewable energy. At the same time, the abovementioned principles from 1991 are still deemed to be relevant and are maintained. I trust that the text of the International Energy Charter, will in a balanced manner do justice to the importance of energy security for producing, consuming and energy transit countries. New states become observers to the Energy Charter Conference by signing the International Energy Charter. Membership of the conference is reserved for the 3 Afghanistan , Albania , Armenia, Australia *, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus *, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Union and Euratom, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland *, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway *, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation *, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. * These countries have not yet ratified the treaty. 4 Observers who have signed the 1991 Charter: Canada, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritania, Montenegro, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Serbia, Syria (not invited), United States, Yemen. Observers who have not signed the 1991 Charter: Algeria, Bahrain, China, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Tunisia, Venezuela, United Arab Emirates. 5 Including: Brazil, Colombia, India, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Mozambique, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania Page 2 of 4 Directorate-General for Energy, Telecommunications and Competition Energy Market Department Our ref. DGETM-EM / 15014527 signatories to the Energy Charter Treaty. The Netherlands will also act as depository for the new declaration. The adoption and signing of the International Energy Charter must pave the way for a greater number of countries to also participate in the Energy Charter Treaty, so that countries can offer investor security, guarantee the free transit of energy, and participate in international arbitration. The Netherlands invites countries that have not yet done this to consider acceding to the treaty. Ministerial Conference on the International Energy Charter A regular annual Energy Charter conference is held, which since 2014 has been placed under political chairmanship (November 2014, Kazakhstan; November 2015, Georgia; 2016 Japan). For the signing of the International Energy Charter, an extraordinary conference will be held in the Netherlands which I shall chair. The aim is to receive the ministers for energy, foreign affairs or trade from the signatory countries (depending on the division of responsibilities in the country in question). The countries invited must have indicated their intention to sign the declaration before the conference takes place. No further negotiations will therefore be conducted in the Netherlands. In addition to the signing of the International Energy Charter, the conference also offers the opportunity to address global energy issues, such as the importance of participating in the Energy Charter Treaty, the worldwide investment challenges for granting access to energy for all and combating climate change, investment protection and energy innovation. The international energy industry has an interest in the security offered by the Energy Charter Treaty and the international energy partnerships resulting from the Energy Charter. That is why I am arranging, in cooperation with several energy sector companies, an additional business event aimed at the attending countries and key stakeholders of the international energy industry on 21 May 2015. The Dutch government will raise international awareness of the importance of the conference in the coming period. In particular, an Energy Charter Forum is planned in Rabat, Morocco on 25 February 2015. This forum, which will be attended and co-organised by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, should serve as a stepping stone to the conference in the Netherlands for Africa and the Middle East, and will be jointly chaired by Morocco and the Netherlands. I will inform your House of the results following the Ministerial Conference on the International Energy Charter in May. Page 3 of 4 Directorate-General for Energy, Telecommunications and Competition Energy Market Department Our ref. DGETM-EM / 15014527 Henk Kamp Minister of Economic Affairs Page 4 of 4 .