For information only - not an official document
UNIS/MA11
14 May 2013
VIENNA, 14 May 2013 (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) - Some 1,500 participants, including heads of state, ministers, energy experts, and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations, academia, civil society and the private sector will take part in the third Vienna Energy Forum (VEF) that opens at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna on 28 May.
The three-day event is being co-organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Austrian Foreign Ministry and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).
Participants at the VEF will discuss how to overcome energy poverty, which is recognized as a major development obstacle, and, at the same time, will look at ways to accelerate the de-carbonization of energy systems. The event will build on the UN's Sustainable Energy for All Initiative, the IIASA-coordinated Global Energy Assessment, and the findings of the UN Development Group's thematic consultations on energy, as well as feed in to the intergovernmental process on the post-2015 development agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A new multi-agency study, led by the World Bank and the International Energy Agency, will also be presented at the Forum. The Global Tracking Framework report charts the course to achieve universal access, double renewables and energy efficiency.
Key speakers will include, among others, Michael Spindelegger, Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Austria; Pavel Kabat, Director, IIASA; Chad Holliday, Chairman, Bank of America; Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President; Suhail Mohamed Almazroui, Minister of Energy of the UAE; Heikki Holmås, Minister of International Development of Norway; Edison Labão, Minister of Mines and Energy of Brazil; Peter Thomson, Permanent Representative of Fiji to the UN in New York and Chair of the G77; Adnan Amin, Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Maria van der Hoeven, Director General, International Energy Agency (IEA); Gerhard Roiss, CEO, OMV; Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Coordinator for the UNCSD Rio+20 Conference; and Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director General of UNIDO.
Journalists are invited to attend the Forum, which opens at 9:00, on Tuesday, 28 May, at the Hofburg's Großer Redoutensaal (entrance from Josefsplatz) and a news conference at 09:30 at the Mittlere Lounge, 2nd floor.
Please register to cover the event at www.viennanergyforum.org
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For more information about UNIDO, please contact:
Mikhail
Evstafyev
Head, Advocacy and External Relations
Telephone: (+43-1)-26026-5021
Mobile: +43-699-1459-7329
Email: M.Evstafyev[at]unido.org
Ravindra
Wickremasinghe
Advocacy and External Relations Assistant
Telephone: (+43-1)-26026-5022
Mobile +43-699-1112-3504
Email:
R.Wickremasinghe[at]unido.org
