PARIS — Israel’s Energy Minister Karine Elharar is participating today and tomorrow in the ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, “Accelerating Global Action on Clean Energy and Energy Security.” Israel is in the process of joining this group, established a few years ago by members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Haim Assaraf, Israel’s ambassador to the OECD and other multilateral organizations, has been leading the process in cooperation with the Energy Ministry. Under his leadership, Israel has developed excellent working relations with the OECD and joined the Paris-based Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence. The same can be expected with the IEA. Israel, the startup nation, has a lot to contribute.
“Israel is now in the final stages of joining the IEA. My presence here is the first time an Israeli energy minister has participated in the agency’s ministerial meetings. I have labored since taking office for Israel to join the IEA, the most significant international organization on energy,” Elharar told Al-Monitor. The minister explained that the goal is imminent, now only a matter of technicalities. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol is very enthusiastic on Israel becoming a member.
This year's ministerial meeting is taking place on the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the global energy crisis. “It was really difficult to see the Ukrainian deputy energy minister pleading with the forum to prevent Russia from continuing to export its energy. Israel is of course helping Ukraine as much as it can, becoming the first state to set up a field hospital there," Elharar noted. She met this morning with EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, who asked Israel to help Europe on natural gas. “For Europe to ask little Israel for help, it is not something that happens every day. Of course, we will now look into ways of assisting. Not only in energy, but also in other ways, such as perhaps helping with vaccine doses for Ukrainian refugees." She also met with her Moroccan counterpart, whom she invited to visit in Israel. Elharar, at only 44, has become one of Israel’s cabinet leading ministers, engaging with her counterparts from Gulf and Arab countries on the Abraham Accords.
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