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Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004

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Oil diplomacy for energy security

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 16. Oil diplomacy to ensure energy security is the strategy now being proposed by the Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The first meeting of the newly created Standing Committee on Oil Diplomacy for Energy Security was held here today with the Foreign Minister, Natwar Singh, as well as a host of distinguished former diplomats attending it.

An Additional Secretary from the Foreign Service, Talmiz Ahmed, was appointed in the Petroleum Ministry to deal with acquisitions of oil and gas properties abroad.

After the meeting, Mr. Aiyar said the standing committee would advise the Government on ways to approach different countries in pursuit of energy security. The 11-member committee headed by the economist, Arjun Sengupta, has the former diplomat, M. Hamid Ansari, as convenor and the other members include Arundhati Ghosh, V.K. Nambiar and S.K. Lambah.

Acquisition plans

He said the committee had discussed efforts to acquire properties in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Australia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Sudan and West Africa. The country's self-reliance in oil production had declined from 50 per cent in the 1980s to 30 per cent at present and is likely to further fall to 15 per cent over the next 15 to 20 years.

He stressed that it was essential to mobilise diplomatic experience to synchronise with the country's investments abroad.

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