Bring China and India into IEA: Senator Dick Lugar
Lugar calls to bring pair into IEA
US Senator Dick Lugar today called for the formal inclusion of China and India in the International Energy Agency.
Yesterday, Lugar met with IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka, who is a proponent of Chinese and Indian membership.
“Even as we bolster our efforts to move away from oil, we must not fail to strengthen our capacity to respond to crisis,” Lugar said in a release. “IEA membership brings both energy security benefits, and responsibilities.”
The IEA was founded in 1974 by international treaty, which now includes the US, Japan, Canada, Australia and much of Europe.
It’s primary objective is to ensure a multilateral response to oil supply disruptions, including coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves which are independently owned by IEA member states.
“When the global economy recovers, global oil demand will once again surge,” Lugar said. “In a tight oil supply situation, all of us – from Beijing to New Delhi, to Brussels and Indianapolis – will be vulnerable to terrorists, militants and natural disasters threatening global oil flows.”
To add countries to the IEA, the treaty would need to be modified in some way and gain the support of the current member countries.
In 2007, the Senate endorsed Lugar-Biden legislation promoting Chinese and Indian membership.
China and India has expressed interest in joining and the next step is for the state department to begin negotiations to revamp the treaty, Lugar’s press secretary Andy Fisher told UpstreamLive.
Fisher said there is not a timetable to begin those negotiations.
“The Secretary of State [Hillary Clinton] indicated in her confirmation proceedings that the US should do this,” he said. “The next step would in the state department’s court on this.”