UK and Australia to Chair Successively IEA Governing Board

The Governing Board of the Paris-based International Energy Agency on 3 March 2004 elected Joan MacNaughton, Director General, Energy at the UK Department of Trade and Industry, to serve as Chairman of the Governing Board until 31 December 2005, and John Ryan, a Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources in Canberra, Australia as Chairman of the Governing Board from 1 January 2006 through 30 June 2007.

Miss. MacNaughton, holds a degree from Warwick University and since 1972 has held many senior posts in government departments such as the Home Office and the Lord Chancellor’s Department. She joined the Department of Trade and Industry in 2002 in order to assume responsibility for UK energy policy, including the recent Energy White Paper, on Oil and Gas, Electricity, Nuclear and Coal industries. Miss. MacNaughton succeeds Dominique Maillard, of France, who has served as Chairman of the Governing Board since 4 April 2002.

Mr. Ryan, who holds degrees from Monash University and the Australian National University, has held a variety of posts in the Australian government, specializing in energy and industry policy issues. His current responsibilities cover energy, environment, minerals, petroleum and manufacturing industry policy. On the international front, Mr. Ryan is the Chairman of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Energy Working Group and has previously been actively involved in the work of the OECD Industry Committee as its chair.

The IEA was founded in 1974, in the wake of the first oil shock, as the organisation of oil consuming countries. Its core mission is to work for stable energy markets and to respond in times of crisis in those markets. It also maintains authoritative energy statistics, studies short- and medium-term market developments, promotes energy efficiency and is engaged in efforts to preserve the environment, especially the world’s climate.

The Governing Board, made up of high officials from the IEA’s 26 Member countries, is the body that manages the IEA and sets its policy. It meets five or six times a year and meets at ministerial level approximately every other year.