New Delhi
6 September 2007
The government on Thursday formally conveyed to Parliament that
an energy security division will be created in the Ministry of External Affairs. Union
Minister of External Affairs Anand Sharma told the Rajya Sabha that the new division will
support New Delhi's international engagement through appropriate diplomatic
interventions and also support efforts of Indian corporates in acquiring energy assets
overseas.
As reported by this newspaper on June 28 this year, the government hopes the new
energy security division in the Ministry of External Affairs will help to marshal its foreign
policy to revitalise New Delhi's engagements with key oil producing and exporting
countries or regions, forging strategic energy partnerships and securing fossil fuel and
hydrocarbon resources that will sustain India's high economic growth rates.
Mr Anand Sharma said in a written reply to a question raised Mr Shahid Siddiqui of
Samajwadi Party: "To secure a long-term, cost-effective and secure mode of gas transfer
from Iran, India has committed itself to Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. We have
also formally conveyed India's interest in joining the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan
gas pipeline project."
India and Iran will discuss the progress on the proposed trilateral gas pipeline project
when Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahdi Safari visits New Delhi from Friday. Mr
Safari will meet Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee and Union Minister of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora. India and Iran will discuss ways to enhance
bilateral ties, with particular focus on implementing the proposed projects like Iran-
Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
In all the future scenarios documented by the Planning Commission, in its report titled
"Integrated Energy Policy", fossil fuels would constitute between 74 per cent and 85 per
cent of India's energy mix as against 96 per cent at present. Even if a 20-fold increase
takes place in India's nuclear power capacity by 2031-32, the contribution of nuclear
energy to India's energy mix is also, at best, expected to be 4.0 to 6.4 per cent. There is
therefore a need to obtain energy resources from abroad and for oil diplomacy.
The new Division is expected to be headed by a diplomat of joint secretary-rank. It will
be the nodal agency to liaise with the five ministries or departments of power, coal,
petroleum and natural gas, non-conventional energy and atomic energy. It will give an
impetus to bilateral, regional and global engagements aimed at promoting diversification
of hydrocarbon supply sources, long term LNG (liquid natural gas) contracts and trans-
national gas pipelines.
The new Division will have building up alliances and addressing sustainability issues in
its charter. Coal is expected to remain the base for India's energy security but with
climate change and carbon emissions becoming a concern worldwide, India will need to
employ diplomatic resources at multilateral fora. The nww division will seek to
supplement the efforts of the Energy Coordination Committee headed by the Prime
Minister. The Energy Coordination Committee is the apex body for all energy related
issues.
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