Doha

HE the former Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah will launch the Middle East’s first ‘think tank’ committed to the creation of knowledge and solutions critical to the future of the regional and international energy system.

The mission of ‘The Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development’ will be to provide information, programmes, research and publications so that the knowledge, insights and wisdom of al- Attiyah may be preserved and built upon for the benefit of future generations in Qatar and for a global audience of stakeholders.

The foundation, a not-for-profit” organisation, will look to help tackle such challenges as energy efficiency, a release said yesterday.

As the rest of the world grows more energy efficient in economic terms, most of the GCC is going the other way, using ever more energy to produce a unit of economic growth and becoming less competitive in the process. If these long-term consumption trends continue, the Gulf States are forecast to be just a few decades away from relinquishing their long-held roles as global energy suppliers.

“I am a man who smells energy, lives energy. I cannot change!” said al- Attiyah, who will host the gala launch for the institute bearing his name on November 1 in Doha.

“I would like to see the foundation become the leading think-tank in the region and one of the world’s leading institutions in the areas of energy and sustainable development,” al-Attiyah said.

The Board of the Al-Attiyah Foundation will consist of a group of distinguished individuals from the past and present leadership of Qatar Petroleum, including Saad al-Kaabi, President & CEO of Qatar Petroleum, HE Dr Ibrahim Ibrahim, economic advisor to HH the Emir, HE Abdulaziz Ahmed al-Malki (Qatar’s Ambassador to Italy), Hamad Rashid al-Mohannadi and Nasser Khalil al-Jaidah (both Board members, QP)

The Foundation Board of Trustees will have al-Attiyah as its chairman and Reda Ibrahim Ali, managing director.

All the board members served with al-Attiyah during his 20 year-tenure leading the transformation of Qatar’s oil and gas industry.

“We will advise governments and companies on how to build their own projects; how to cut the fat in their expenses; how to avoid market shocks; how to make the right calculations and how to plan ahead both in the short-term and the long-term,” said al-Attiyah.

The Foundation will host leading experts from around the world, many of whom will have retired from senior energy positions in government and industry where they would have played an active role in the advancement of the international energy industry.