23 June 2017, Sweetcrude, Vienna, Austria — As a follow-up to discussions held in February this year between OPEC and the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), a technical working session between the respective organizations was held at the OPEC Secretariat on 12 June 2017.
The February meeting at KAPSARC’s headquarters in Saudi Arabia underscored the value of building a stronger working relationship through joint studies, projects, and programmes. This provided the main focus for the June meeting at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, which explored various options for furthering dialogue and cooperation.
The first session of the meeting related to the possible use of the KAPSARC Toolkit for Behavioural Analysis (KTAB) and its potential to be applied to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations process. The second and third sessions were devoted to developments in the road transportation sector. This included various challenges and opportunities related to technology, as well a number of topics related to transport modeling where collaboration could be fruitful and value-added.
It was agreed by both Parties that there was room to evolve and expand collaboration, and further discussions will be held in due course.
