Message from the President and the Secretary General

Dear IGU readers,

Good day. It is an honour to greet you this first time since the IGU Secretariat moved to Barcelona. Thanks to the collective efforts of many, the transition was smooth, and IGU's interests were protected and advanced during the move from Oslo.

The Spanish Secretariat has started off in high gear, and over the last few months has worked hard to build on the accomplishments of the Norwegian Secretariat. Together the Secretariat and President have maintained their focus on raising the global voice of gas in a series of high profile events.

We're also working to develop and organise upcoming IGU events in a way that strengthens the IGU brand and improves the execution of these events. We want to better attract those outside of the gas sector to the IGU conferences, bringing together a broader group of global stakeholders, including policymakers, to actively engage in debates on the future energy mix and the critical role that gas plays in the mix.

We are now already well into 2017, and a priority for this year is improving the value of IGU’s services to our membership. As a worldwide association, distances are challenging and keeping in touch with all corners of our organisation can sometimes be difficult. But hearing from you directly is important to understanding your needs, your suggestions and your expectations for this global organisation. It’s our goal to have meaningful contact with our entire membership in 2017.

IGU strives to be an effective global voice, but accomplishing that starts with an understanding of local issues, challenges and opportunities. Our experience is that regional meetings are useful in creating forums to accomplish these objectives. Furthermore, these regional meetings are opportunities to include support and advice from IGU to regular regional events, conferences and symposiums. We’re always pleased to hear from you – let us know how we can put IGU to work for you!

We continue to make progress linking the efforts of the excellent work of IGU Committees to the ongoing advocacy efforts. Many of the documents produced by the IGU committees are highly relevant to our strategic partners. IGU aims to strengthen the relations with our strategic partners and better leverage those relationships going forward to reach decision makers and policymakers around the world.

IGU is making a difference in promoting economic, technical and policy progress for our global industry. We are fortunate to have the support of such an impressive list of member organisations. We feel that our dual focus of strengthening our “global voice” and enhancing member value will deliver benefits today, while positioning both IGU and our industry for a bright future.

Yours sincerely,

Luis Bertrán Rafecas IGU Secretary General David C Carroll IGU President

v  David C Carroll, and Luis Bertrán Rafecas.