Minister Simon Coveney welcomes second Ireland-Nordic-Baltic 8 conference

On Wednesday 15 December, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Embassies of the Nordic-Baltic states accredited to Dublin will host the second Ireland-Nordic-Baltic 8 conference. This conference will take place virtually and will be live streamed on Ireland.ie/NB8conference and on the Department of Foreign Affairs YouTube channel, commencing at 9.30am.

Welcoming the event, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney TD said:

"I am delighted to see experts from Ireland and the Nordic-Baltic states exchanging knowledge and sharing new ideas on the energy transition. This is exactly the kind of focused and practical co-operation I envisaged when I brought the “Global Ireland Strategy for the Nordic region” to Cabinet earlier this year."

This year’s conference will be on the subject of “Advancing Energy Transition while Ensuring Energy Security.” The conference will commence with introductory remarks by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney TD. This initiative will feature the Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne TD, the Lithuanian Vice-Minister for Energy, Albinas Zananavičius, and a panel of experts from across the Nordic-Baltic region. Noelle O’Connell, CEO of European Movement Ireland will moderate the conference.

The panel will address how Europe can adapt its energy mix to support the ambitious emissions reduction targets set out in the European Green Deal while ensuring that that citizens and businesses can rely on a secure and stable supply of energy.

Notes

The participants in the conference are as follows:

Moderator

Noelle O’Connell – CEO, European Movement Ireland

Panellists

Kevin O’Donovan – Senior Vice-President, Statkraft

Jukka Leskelä – Managing Director, Finnish Energy

Saulius Šimanauskas - International Cooperation Group, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania

Stephanie Bouckaert - Head of Demand Sectors Unit, IEA