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Nearly half of the more than 50 participants at the ‘Total Alreyada: Connecting Young Leaders Summit,’ being officially opened today in Doha, are Qataris, Guillaume Chalmin, managing director of Total E&P Qatar and Total Group representative in Qatar, told Gulf Times. |
“This is an excellent level of attendance, which I think is a very positive reflection on the long and continuous history Total has in Qatar and the many partnerships we have built here in the area of education and training,” he said.
But first and foremost the success of Alreyada is down to the fact that it is an event designed for Middle East young energy leaders, with the involvement of industry experts from across the Middle East, Chalmin observed.
The ‘Total Alreyada: Connecting Young Leaders Summit’ is a touring event which means that every year a different country in the Middle East and North Africa has more
opportunity to send students.
“We are thrilled to host presentations from a wide panel of senior executives, including from Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas, Qapco, Dolphin Energy, Kuwait Energy and Petroleum Development Oman, and it is an honour to have HE Dr Hamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kuwari, Qatar’s Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, formally open the event.
“The first Alreyada, held last year in Abu Dhabi, also welcomed around 50 young energy leaders, from eight Middle East countries. And the strong regional dimension to Alreyada is why the summit, in my view, was named Best CSR Initiative in the Middle East at the 2013 ADIPEC Awards,” he said.
The Alreyada programme is aimed at university graduates pursuing petroleum engineering studies or related academic fields, as well as young graduates who have already started their career in the oil and gas industry.
“Selection involves a combination of factors, but in general we seek the recommendations of our National Oil Company partners and our partners in the academic community. The most important criterion we look for, of course, is
passion,” Chalmin maintained.
It is a policy to obtain feedback from everyone who takes part and this input is used to build the summit programme for the following year. As this is only the second year of Alreyada, the event is still in its infancy, but the opportunity to hear and interact with industry experts from across the region has been very well received by the students so far, as well as the opportunity to share ideas with their counterparts in different countries on how to address growing local and
global energy demand.
“There are a variety of initiatives tailored to the needs of the countries where we are active and the requirements of our local partners. We are heavily involved at the university level, through the award of grants and scholarships to gifted students, to study at institutions in the region or leading colleges abroad.
“The summit is a team-building and knowledge-sharing opportunity as opposed to a contest with awards,” Chalmin added.
