The Energy Charter Conference has appointed Ambassador Urban Rusnák from the Slovak Republic as the new Secretary General of the Energy Charter Secretariat. The decision was taken by the member states of the Energy Charter Conference at its 22nd Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 29 November 2011. Ambassador Rusnák will assume his duties as Secretary General on 1 January 2012, taking over from the outgoing Secretary General, Ambassador André Mernier.

Ambassador Rusnák is currently the Project Leader for External Energy Security of the Slovak Republic. He was Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Ukraine from 2005 to 2009. In addition to his mother tongue, Ambassador Rusnák speaks English, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, French and Hungarian.

The ECS Director for Trade and Transit Steivan Defilla has been invited to give a presentation on the Energy Charter at the Global Energy and Resources Roundtable, held on 5 November 2011 in the Chinese City of Qingdao. In his presentation Mr. Defilla discussed the contemporary global energy challenges and the consecutive response given by the Charter constituency in the Road Map for modernisation. He indicated that this modernisation was a perfect occasion for observer countries like China to intensify their cooperation with the Charter. Due to its open and non-discriminatory character, the Charter can potentially benefit all countries that want to collaborate within this unique multilateral framework.

The Senior Adviser Patrick Larkin attended the 15th Annual Middle East Natural Gas Summit in Istanbul on 24-26 October 2011. The MEGAS event brings together those countries from the Middle East and North Africa who are key players in the oil and natural gas markets. This year's conference was held in Turkey which, being close to much of the world's oil and gas reserves, creates a natural bridge between source and consumer countries. The debate at MEGAS focused on the highly topical Southern Corridor issue. Mr. Larkin spoke in the context of Azerbaijan and its key importance to this question.

The Chairman of the Energy Charter Conference Amb. Selim Kuneralp represented the Energy Charter at the Fifth Kazenergy Eurasian Forum held in Astana on 4-5 October 2011. The Forum is regarded as a unique platform for discussing topical issues related to oil and gas and power sectors in Kazakhstan and globally. Amb. Kuneralp spoke on "Global Energy Preparedness: Supply, Demand and Transit of Energy Resources - Interdependence of All Participants in the Global Energy Exchange".

The Energy Charter Secretariat and the Ministry of Energy and Industry of Azerbaijan have been working in close cooperation to prepare an In-Depth Review of the Investment Climate and Market Structure in the Energy Sector of Azerbaijan. As part of the review process, the in‐depth review team of the Energy Charter Secretariat supported by an official from the Italian Ministry of Economic Development visited Azerbaijan between 26 September and 1 October 2011.

In September 2011 the Albanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy and the National Agency for Natural Resources hosted an in-depth energy efficiency peer review mission under the Energy Charter Protocol for Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects (PEEREA). Officials from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, the Bulgarian Energy Efficiency Agency, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development, supported by the Energy Charter Secretariat, visited Tirana on 26-30 September 2011. The aim of the mission was to assess the progress of the country in fulfilling its commitments under the Protocol and to get insight on most recent developments in the national energy and energy efficiency policies.