India gets ‘Association Status’ from IEA

The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan met Fatih Birol, Executive Director of International Energy Agency (IEA) jointly with Minister of State for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal. Birol is visiting India to jointly announce the activation of ‘Association Status’ of India with IEA.

During the meeting, Pradhan welcomed the elevation of India’s relationship with IEA from Partnership Status (2013) to Association Status. He expressed confidence that with the Association Status the bilateral engagements between the two will further intensify and both can work towards balancing the global energy dynamics reflecting today’s global realities. Pradhan emphasised that IEA, as an international organisation, should represent both producing and consuming countries. He added that considering the dynamic global oil markets, constructive and frequent dialogues between producing and consuming nations should be held to safeguard mutual interests and to keep the markets at equilibrium. In this context, he said that India was ready to work constructively with IEA to enhance bilateral engagement.

India and IEA have a MoU since 2011 under which both are working on capacity building to respond to an oil emergency situation. With the Association Status in place, both India and IEA will work in the areas of mutual interests pertaining to oil and gas sector, including capacity building to meet supply side disruptions.