Minister Hoeven, who called for greater global cooperation in solving multiplying energy challenges, said: "We are heading forward to see that there is an agreement between the four countries on how to handle CCS, what to do about it and how to invest so that there is more knowledge and technology available."

"I will certainly welcome the establishment of a CCS group within the framework of the International Energy Forum (IEF)," said the Dutch minister.

She said: "We (Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands) have already started working jointly in handling CCS and we also organized a conference last June, but a further plan of action is being elaborated with the UK and Norway on board."

She pointed out that the CCS, which involves trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial processes, such as power generation from fossil fuels, and storing it underground or below the seabed, will be a new technology.

The Dutch minister, while referring to the forthcoming London energy meeting to be hosted by the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in December this year, stressed the need to move forward from dialogue to action "on increasing oil and gas investment, the sharing of reliable oil market analysis and measures targeting sustainability."

The lecture was attended by a number of Saudi officials, ambassadors and guests including IEF Secretary General Noe van Hulst.

Hoeven, who signed an avoidance of double taxation accord with Saudi Arabia, also held wide-ranging talks with her Saudi counterparts at the ministries of oil, education and planning during her visit to Riyadh. The double taxation treaty, she said, would bring about tax savings in connection with cross-border economic activities. She said that a cooperation agreement was also signed between the Dammam-based Prince Mohammed Ibn Fahd University and the Maastricht School of Management yesterday.

She pointed out that the two sides are also discussing a framework draft MoU that will help to forge closer cooperation in education sector. This education agreement will be signed later this year or in the first half of next year, she added. Asked about the Islam-bashing following the screening of Fitna by a right wing parliamentarian in the Netherlands, Hoeven played down the issue, but said that "The Dutch government, which values religion, had a different position on the issue."

Referring to the CCS with special reference to the expanding cooperation in energy sector between the Kingdom and the Netherlands, she said that "the first deliverable in the field of CCS cooperation will be a joint meeting of our experts followed by a ministerial meeting, possibly this year itself."

She said that the new knowledge will have far reaching implications for Saudi Arabia as well as for the Netherlands.

By M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan

© Arab News 2008

 

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