KRG Ministry of Natural Resources

Istanbul, Turkey (mnr.krg.org) – Dr Ashti Hawrami, the KRG Minister of Natural Resources, on Friday will speak about the Kurdistan Region’s Energy Outlook at the 7th Annual Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit in Istanbul.

The Atlantic Council, which is based in Washington D.C., is a leading think tank on international affairs that hosts an annual energy summit in Istanbul. Minister Hawrami is attending the three-day gathering from today.

Minister Hawrami will participate in a panel focused on the Kurdistan Region. He will be joined by former US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, President of Gryphon Partners; and representatives of two international oil companies active in the Kurdistan Region: Tony Hayward, Chairman of Genel Energy; and Alberto Galicia Zamorano, Gas/LNG Commercial Director of Repsol.

Speakers at the summit include heads of state and government: Turkey’s’ President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović; and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Many of the topics to be debated are directly relevant to the Kurdistan Region’s economic and energy prospects. Minister Hawrami will convey the Kurdistan Region's plans to become an increasingly important part of the world energy supply network, which will improve prosperity for the people of Kurdistan. Participants will discuss the energy outlook in different countries and regions and how this impacts world energy security. They will also look at supply routes from East to West and South to North.

Also speaking are several ministers, among them Iraq’s Minister of Oil Adil Abdul Mahdi; Turkey’s Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek, and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Ali Rıza Alaboyun; Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov; and Antony Blinken, US Deputy Secretary of State. Other ministers participating are from the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lithuania, Iceland and Malta.

Some 600 political, business and civil society leaders from more than 40 countries are attending the summit, which this year is on the theme of ‘Building Stability and Business Resilience in Volatile Times’.

The conference will open with a moment’s silence to mourn all the victims of violent extremism and the Assad regime, in Ankara, Beirut, Baghdad, Paris, throughout Syria and elsewhere.