HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, chairman of The Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development, participated in the ‘Distinguished  Speaker Series’ hosted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) meeting in Paris on Friday.  
HE the former Deputy Prime Minister was accompanied on this visit by a high-level official delegation from the Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development. IEA’s ‘Distinguished  Speaker Series’ entitled ‘big IdEAs’ features top thinkers, decision makers and global leaders who speak on a wide range of topics that are timely and relevant but not always directly related to energy. The aim is to foster learning and inspiration – and provoke discussions that matter.
Al-Attiyah was interviewed by Fatih Birol, currently the Executive Director of the IEA.  During a wide ranging discussion, al-Attiyah touched upon many topics such as achieving supply – demand balance in the oil market, climate change, establishing a complete LNG supply chain and oil producer – consumer dialogues.
He also spoke about his involvement and achievements in the global energy industry.
A lunch was hosted in honour of al-Attiyah and the accompanying delegation by the Australian Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Founded in 1974, the IEA was initially designed to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil such as the crisis of 1973.
The IEA is an autonomous organisation, which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond.
The IEA has four main areas of focus- energy security, economic development, environmental awareness and engagement worldwide.
The full recording of the event can be viewed on the website www.iea.org under ‘Bigideas’.