Address of the Director General of MIEF-2013

I am sincerely glad to welcome all who are preparing to participate in the next Moscow International Energy Forum “Russian Energy and Fuel Complex in the XXI Century” (MIEF-2013).
A little more than a month remains before the date of the opening of the Forum – its preparation is entered into the final stage. The efforts of the organizers of the Forum wit its constant partners and participants in the past months we have managed to establish finally the Program of the Forum. In comparison with the initial version, the Program has been changed significantly. So on the first day of the Forum, the main attention will be focused on the problems of the Russian power industry, regional energy infrastructure, supply and heating. These issues are included in the Program by the recommendations of our colleagues, partners of the Forum, its participants and organizers. The importance of these problems for anybody does not cause doubts. We were invited to the events of the first day of the Forum the leading experts and professionals – those who actively participated in the recent years in the preparation of the regulatory-legal documents, who are currently at the forefront of the decision of these problems in the various working groups under the Government of the Russian Federation or of the specialized committees of the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. To our joy leading specialists are responding to our invitations and we are confident that we can organize a full and open discussion of the main issues of the agenda.
The second and third days of the Forum will be fully devoted to the issues of the relationship of the Fuel and Energy Complex of Russia and world energy, Russia’s Energy strategy, strategy of development of oil and gas complex in the context of new internal and external challenges. The theme of new vectors of development of the world energy and consequent risks and challenges in the Russian Fuel and Energy Complex remains the main theme of the Forum. At present moment the Organizing Committee and the Program Committee of the MIEF-2013 have done everything necessary to ensure that the discussion of these key for Russian economy issues was held in a constructive atmosphere, in the presence of the most authoritative experts. In the framework of the open discussion, and we will try to refresh the expert opinion on the latest global trends of energy development while avoiding trivial thesis and superficial judgments. We are interested in the whole range of opinions and positions on these key issues, therefore we will try to connect to the dialogue of experts on the stage of interested listeners out of the hall – our microphones will always available for questions and remarks.
On the whole despite certain difficulties caused by the non-governmental status of the event and the ambiguous situation in the Russian economy we are confident that during month all problematic issues of preparation of the Forum will be resolved, and MIEF-2013 will be held at a high level. Our confidence is based on your participation and support, dear colleagues. We work with you and for you.

Best regards,
General Director of MIEF
Andrey Epishov