SONANGOL CEO’s Engineer and immediate past president of the forum of CEOs of NOCs of APPO member countries, Mr Sebastiâo Gaspar Martins has called on CEOs of NOCs of APPO member countries to focus on cooperation and collaboration among APPO member countries as the way out of the challenges facing the African continent in the global energy scene,
The call was made at the 4th meeting of the Forum held recently in Algiers, Algeria where he handed over to Mr. Toufik Hakkar, CEO of SONATRACH as the President of the Forum for one year.
While expressing delight at the growing interest in the Forum and the initiatives taken to overcome the challenges facing the industry, Mr Gaspar urged his colleagues to strive to maintain the interest to enable them overcome the challenges collectively.”
Speaking shortly after taking over as President of the Forum, Mr. Hakkar commended APPO’s Council of Ministers for reviving the forum with a new mandate for greater cooperation and collaboration. The decision, he said was geared towards engaging the NOCs in the search for solutions to the challenges facing the African oil and gas industry. The NOCs, he further said bear the consequences and therefore understand the challenges the most. This he reiterated places them in the best position to profer practical solutions to the challenges.
Mr Hakkar expressed deep appreciation to past presidents of the forum for their exemplary leadership and commitment to the success of the Forum and urged the APPO Secretariat to continue to ensure that all expectations are met.
In his speech at the event, APPO’s Secretary General, H.E Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim thanked the CEOs and their delegations for the importance attached to the Forum and the fruitful deliberations. He also appreciated HE Mohamed Arkab, Minister of Energy and Mines of Algeria for the important role he played during the reform of APPA to APPO and his continued support to the Organization.
The 4th meeting of the forum which ha 16 CEOs and representatives in attendance featured technical sessions of various topics culminating in recommendations.
The CEOs also visited the Algerian Petroleum Institute (IAP), the Research and Development Center and the SONATRACH Laboratories in Boumerdès as part of APPOs efforts at identifying institutes in APPO member countries for capacity building.
