The President of Georgia is attending the “World Energy Forum 2012 for World’s Leaders.” The international forum is being held in Dubai with the patronage of the ruling Sheikh of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Bin Rashid and the United Nations. Mikheil Saakashvili addressed the world leaders and representatives of business circles.

“What we see is that there are big changes in terms of producing and supplying shell gas in our part of the world. It now looks like Qatar will take a big part of the European Market and the United States will become an electricity exporter for the first time by the end of this year. The US will start to export electricity to Asia. So what we are seeing is that the traditional gas importers are becoming less and less important and that really changes the role of Russia, because the main expansion that Russia had going on was a plan to have new pipelines as well as sell energy to North America. Now this is already sidelined. What we are getting is that countries like Ukraine, Romania and others in Eastern Europe might actually have more gas than Russia. So, that really changes the whole geopolitics of this part of the world. That changes the whole equation and balance of power in our part of the world. As we know, energy means political power and this will create more flexibility. The energy terminals that we are constructing on our seashore are bringing out the liquefied gas from Azerbaijan to European destinations, and it will have much more importance than traditional pipelines. I think Qataris were very smart to understand it in time, and they have done their own share in that direction and I think more and more people will go in that direction. Georgia has achieved remarkable progress in the recent years and its stands side by side with successful countries. I represent this country today; it is really attractive for investors and this makes me very proud” – stated the President of Georgia.

Finding ways of producing safe and renewable energy, which will provide a firm basis for economic development, is the main topic of debate during the forum. The leaders participating in the conference declared October 22^nd as world energy day. The year 2012 was declared as the year of sustainable energy with the initiative of the UN.

Over 2,500 delegates, invited from various countries, are attending the ongoing forum in Dubai including Presidents, Prime Ministers, Heads of States, and representatives of Business Circles.