Next Year's World Energy Congress In Russia To Have At Least 5 Heads Of State - Organizer

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2021) The next year's World Energy Congress, scheduled to take place in Russia's St. Petersburg, will feature five or six heads of state from major energy countries among participants, Angela Wilkinson, the secretary general and CEO of the World Energy Council, told Sputnik.

The World Energy Congress is a triennial event organized by the council to bring together members of the global energy community to discuss the present and future of the energy sector. Its 25th edition will take place in Russia's former capital on October 24-27, 2022.

"We will have at least 5 or 6 heads of states from very big energy countries. We will have at least 200 CEOs VIP. We will have all this conventional matrix. But when I think about preparations, we've got a program committee, we've got cultural visits, we've got all the behind-the-scenes stuff going on, as you could expect," Wilkinson said.

The executive went on to commend the work of the Russian National Committee of the World Energy Council for playing an active part in the organization's activities.

"The current Russian energy committee is fantastic.

Very adaptive. We are looking at how do they really take the conversation beyond the old 'What's the future of the energy industry?' to 'What's the future of energy society?', how does Russian energy society fits in all energy societies across the world, what does it mean for cooperation between governments, cities and communities," Wilkinson noted.

The World Energy Council also hopes that by holding the next congress in St. Petersburg the Russian committee will be able to expand its membership.

"Because you can't achieve energy transition just by being a ministry of energy or being an industry player. We've got to bring the cities, the communities, the workforce, the customers. So our Russian Member Committee is active, it's expanding and I hope it will be the leading voice of Russia energy society that work alongside governments and businesses in achieving net zero emissions," Wilkinson stated.

The World Energy Congress dates back to 1923 and currently unites over 3,000 member organizations across 90 countries, ranging from governments, companies, NGOs, academia and other involved parties.