On 18 November 2008, the first Social Forum in the context of the Energy Community commenced in Tirana, Albania. Officially opened by the Prime Minister of Albania H.E. Dr. Sali Berisha, the two day event took stock of the progress achieved after the signature of Memorandum of Understanding on Social Issues in October 2007. “This Forum shows a common commitment to develop the social dimension of the Energy Community”, noted H.E. Ambassador Mr. Lohan, Head of EU Delegation in Tirana, in his opening speech.

Last Thursday the European Commission presented a proposal on a wide-ranging energy package. The aims of the package are twofold – to boost energy security in Europe and to enforce the 20-20-20 climate change proposals which should be agreed by December. Central to the new strategy are energy solidarity among Member States and a new policy on energy networks to stimulate investment in more efficient, low-carbon energy networks.

Yesterday, 11 November 2008, marked the closing day of the 5th Vienna Economic Forum. Whilst the enforcement of investments was the predominant theme, a special focus was also put on energy issues. The two day event brought together leading figures heads from business and politics from Austria and across the South East Europe. The Energy Community was represented by Director Slavtcho Neykov and Simon Uzunov, Head of Electricity Unit.

The Government module focuses on the role of governments in the course of electricity market liberalisation. Also, the question “What role should the regulators play in the reform process?” stands at the centre of attention. The training module targets PHLG members, regulatory agencies and energy directorates from the seven Contracting Parties and five Observers of the Energy Community. Several experts from the Energy Community Secretariat will act as speakers at the module. Scheduled for 12 and 13 November, the module will be organised at the Jable Castle at outskirts of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

On 5 November 2008 the European Commission adopted its annual strategy document, explaining its policy on EU enlargement. The document includes a summary of the progress made over the last twelve months by each candidate and potential candidate. The national 2008 progress reports of the seven Energy Community Contracting Parties are now available on-line.

Yesterday, 21 September 2008, the first interregional workshop on cross border capacity took place at the Secretariat’s premises in Vienna. It was organized by the Energy Community Secretariat with the assistance of the European Commission. The workshop brought together more than 50 representatives of TSOs, Auction Offices, traders and regulators from the SEE, CWE and CEE region.

The workshop was chaired by Mr. George Koutzoukos, Vice President of the Greek regulator RAE, and the newly elected SEE CAO IG chairman. Mr. Heinz Hilbrecht from European Commission acted as a co-chairman.

Next Tuesday, 21 September 2008, the first interregional workshop on cross border capacity allocation will be held at the Energy Community Secretariat. The workshop marks one step in a line of action, due to result in the establishment of Co-ordinated Auction Office, CAO, for the South East European region in 2010.

Today, 16 October 2008, more than 100 representatives of the Ministries, regulatory authorities and the Commission took part to the 3rd Gas Forum in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Forum focused on practical steps promoting concrete investments in the gas sector on regional level.

In the framework of the Energy Community, a Conference on investments in energy infrastructure was organized by the Energy Community Secretariat on 7 October 2008 in Prishtina. The focus of the Conference was put on the practical challenges for private and public investors, as well as on the possible models for investing in South East Europe.

Monday, 6 October 2008, marks the beginning of a call for tenders on “Study on the final development and establishment of a Coordinated Congestion Management in the SEE Region”. The closing date for the tender is 12 November 2008.

The Secretariat on 17 September 2008 decided to initiate its first-ever dispute settlement procedure under the recently adopted Rules of Procedure for Dispute Settlement under the Treaty.

A delegation from the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan visited the Secretariat on Monday, 22 September upon invitation of ECS Director. The members of the delegation came as the representatives of their nation ministers, regulators and TSOs.

The delegation was lead by Mr. Vesa Lappalainen, Senior Energy Law Expert from MVV.

As part of the plans to establish a Co-ordinated Auction Office for the South East European region, the Energy Community Secretariat will hold an interregional workshop on cross border capacity allocation. The workshop targets regulators, TSOs and traders from the SEE and CEE region. It will take place on 21 October 2008 at the premises of the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna. The workshop will be chaired by Mr. George Koutzoukos, Vice President of the Greek regulator RAE.

On Monday 15 September representatives of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources in Greece (CRES) visited the Energy Community Secretariat. The discussions centered on capacity building and subsequent integrated energy system planning among the Energy Community Contracting Parties and Observers.

On Monday 15 September 2008 Mr. Radko Manov and Mr. Milos Colovic from GAMA paid a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat. GAMA is the TSO in charge of gas at the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The application period for the Head of ECRB Section at the Energy Community Secretariat will close tomorrow, 12 September 2008. Qualified professionals are invited to apply via e-mail to recruitment@energy-community.org no later than Friday, 12 September 2008, 12 pm.

The ECRB Annual Report 2007 takes stock of the first year in operation. It describes the structures, tasks and key activities of the ECRB.

Energy Community Secretariat and the Regulatory Boad with the support of the European Commission will organise the first Gas Distribution Conference in Zagreb, Croatia on 25 September 2008. The venue of the conference will be the Sheraton Zagreb Hotel in Zagreb.

Today Managing Director Mrs. Dorothea Sulzbacher and Future Energy Expert Mr. Robert Hoeller from OMV Future Energy Fund paid a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat. This was the first face to face meeting between the two organizations.

Following an invitation on behalf of Director Slavtcho Neykov, an IEA delegation led by Mrs. Ann Eggington visited today the Energy Community Secretariat. Mrs. Eggington heads the Division for Europe, Middle East & Africa as part of the Office of Global Energy Dialogue.

A forth night ago the Division published the first in-dept IEA energy study on the Western Balkans.

A delegation of the Albanian Regulatory Authority, led by its Chairman Mr. Bujar Nepravista paid today a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat. The visit followed an invitation by its Director Mr. Slavtcho Neykov. It coincides with the commencement of the Albanian presidency in office of the Energy Community for the second half of 2008.

On Friday, 27 June 2008 in Brussels, the Energy Community Ministerial Council addressed key issues for the functioning of electricity markets in South-East Europe. At this occasion, Commissioner Piebalgs declared: "Last week the European Council reiterated its full support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans and the importance of regional cooperation: the Energy Community is becoming a success story in this respect, but efforts should be pursued."

Today Mr. Vugar Imamaliyev, the first Secretary of Azerbaijan Embassy in Vienna, paid a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat. This visit followed the meeting between H.E. Mr. Fuad Ismayilov, the Azerbaijani Ambassador in Vienna, and Mr. Slavtcho Neykov, the Director of the Secretariat, on 2 June 2008.

This morning Mr. Vitalie Iurcu, Director General of ARNE, the Moldovan regulatory authority, paid a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat. The discussions centred on ARNE’s present-day policy issues and hallmarks of the Moldavian energy sector in general. The intensification of Moldova’s involvement in the Energy Community process was also addressed.

Yesterday close to 80 persons took part in an Energy Community workshop on social dialogue at Vienna International Center. The workshop marked the first event after the official signature of Memorandum of Understanding on Social Issues in October 2007. It brought together representatives from the trade unions, business, ministries, regulators, NGOs, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and Energy Community Secretariat.

In February 2008 the President of Albania promulgated a new Law Nr. 9876 “On Production, Transportation and Trade of Biofuels and Other Renewable Fuels, for Transport". The Albanian parliament also took a decision to amend the Law Nr. 9072 “Power Sector Law” in May 2008. The legal act now includes provisions on the promotion of renewable energy sources in Albania. For this purpose, the Law Nr. 9072 was extended to include two, new articles.

Next Tuesday, 27 May 2008 the Energy Community Secretariat will hold a preparatory workshop on social issues in Vienna. Development of social action plans will be at the centre of discussions. The workshop also marks a preparatory step towards the upcoming Social Forum, scheduled to take place on 18-19 November 2008 in Tirana, Albania.

Parallel to the preparations of the workshop, the two leading European trade union federations, EPSU and EMCEF, issued together with Eurogas a joint statement. The statement confirms the parties' commitment to support the aims of the Memorandum of Understanding on the social aspects of the Energy Community.

Yesterday, Director Slavtcho Neykov of the Energy Community Secretariat took part in an International Financial Institutions Advisory Group meeting on energy in Brussels. As part of the morning roundtable discussions, Mr Neykov gave the group an update on the implementation of the Energy Community Treaty acquis by the Contracting Parties.

Yesterday Mr. Slavtcho Neykov, Director of Energy Community Secretariat, held a presentation at the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. The presentation was part of an internal seminar for Austrian diplomats, focusing on the most pressing policy issues in Europe.

On Wednesday, the 16 April 2008 the Energy Community Gas Forum convened for the second time in Maribor, Slovenia. The Forum brought together high level gas sector representatives, including European Commission, regulators and associations of the gas industry, such as EUROGAS, GIE, OGP, EFET as well as donors and international financial institutions active in the South East Europe.

The aim of the 2-day workshop was to offer additional assistance to the Contracting Parties to overcome the delays in implementation of the acquis under the Treaty. The workshop provided a platform for discussions, clarification and presentation of achievements and next steps. Organised on 10 and 11 April 2008, the workshop targeted explicitly PHLG members and regulatory authorities from the Contracting Parties. Also, representatives of TSOs took part in the event.

Today’s workshop “Matching financing with projects” took place as a follow up of the Ministerial Council meeting in December 2007. In its conclusions the Ministerial Council underlined the necessity to have regular updates on the list of priority infrastructure projects in the Energy Community Contracting Parties. The workshop at Energy Community Secretariat brought together decision makers from Energy ministries, power generation and transmissions companies, as well as representatives of the donors’ community.

On 26 March 2008 a joint meeting between South East European traders and TSOs took place in Vienna. The Energy Community Secretariat, representatives from regulators and donors’ community also attended the meeting.

Today the first face to face talks took place between the OSCE and Energy Community Secretariat. The aim of Mr. Patrice Dreiski’s visit, Special Adviser for the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, was to examine the possibilities of co-operation between the two Vienna based organisations.

In 2006 total annual energy consumption in Croatia decreased by 0.3 percent. At the same time gross domestic product increased by 4.8 percent, which implies a ongoing positive development in energy intensity reduction in Croatia.

On Wednesday, 12 March 2008, some 70 participants attended a workshop on “Environmental Impact Assessment in the Energy Sector in South East Europe” organised by the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna. The workshop marked the first public event in the area of environment within the context of the Energy Community. Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, was at the centre of the discussions. The workshop coincides with a reinforced focus on environmental issues within the Energy Community’s tasks.

The Directorate General for Transport and Energy of the European Commission (DG TREN) and Energy Community Secretariat are pleased to announce the 12th Athens Forum on the 15th - 16th of May 2008 in Athens.

On Friday, 22 February over 75 high level officials from energy and social protection ministries, energy efficiency agencies and NGOs and donors gathered to discuss about residential energy efficiency and affordability implications at the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna. The workshop was jointly organised by the Energy Community Secretariat, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and European Agency for Reconstruction

Whilst the 1st Energy Efficiency Task Force meeting is organised by the Energy Community Secretariat, the two workshops on Electricity Tariffs and Residential Energy Efficiency and Affordability are a joint effort by the Energy Community and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The three events take place between 20 and 22 February 2008 at the premises of the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna.

The entry into force of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community paved, among others, way to an energy training initiative. Co-financed by the UK and Slovenian governments, the “ET – Energy Training for South East Europe” is a pan-regional one-year energy training programme and targets especially the Contracting Parties and Observers of the process. The Energy Community Secretariat has been intensively involved in the planning of programme content from the outset.

A Workshop focussing on Environmental Impact Assessment will be organised by the Energy Community Secretariat and takes place on 12 March 2008 (9:00 – 16:00) at the Secretariat’s premises.

As part of the program to get acquainted with the Viennese international organisations, a group of postgraduate students paid a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat on Friday, the 8 February 2008.

Yuriy Tokarski from the Permanent Mission of Ukraine in Vienna paid a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat on Thursday, 31 January 2008. This was a working meeting with an aim to streamline Ukraine’s involvement in the 2008 Energy Community activities. Also, the issue how to support at best Ukraine’s efforts to attain the status of a Contracting Party was part of the agenda.

Hido Biscevic, Secretary General of the new Regional Co-operation Council, together with Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of Stability Pact and his team paid a visit to the Energy Community Secretariat on Thursday, 24 January 2008.

The event calendar is a direct outcome of the Energy Community Work Programme 2008-2009. The listed events are a mixture of regular institutional meetings and of accompanying ad hoc meetings reflecting the aims and objective of the Energy Community Work Programme 2008-2009.