WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman will be in Aomori, Japan this weekend to participate in the Five-Country and the Group of Eight (G8) +3 Energy Ministerial meetings hosted by Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari.  While in Japan, the Secretary will meet with ministers and other high-level government officials from G8 countries, China, India and Korea to discuss a wide range of global energy security issues.

“These meetings are an important forum for the U.S. to engage with the world’s leading economies to address the most fundamental challenges we all face: rapidly growing global energy demand and global climate change,” Secretary Bodman said.  “Meeting these challenges will require responsible and sustained action, from both consuming and producing nations, to expand and diversify the energy alternatives available to the world, and to shift toward sources and methods of production and delivery that are more efficient, cleaner, sustainable, and secure.”

Secretary Bodman and his counterparts will examine ways to diversify energy supplies, increase energy efficiency, and enhance international collaboration to accelerate the commercialization of innovative technologies that will decrease dependence on carbon-based fossil fuels.  The leaders will also explore ways to foster greater market transparency and fair investment principles among all nations to ensure adequate investment in new energy supplies for the future.

On Saturday (June 7), Secretary Bodman will participate in discussions related to energy security challenges, emergency preparedness, and energy efficiency and diversification at the Five-Country Energy Ministers Meeting.  Secretary Bodman will lead a session on global investment climates, where he will discuss the importance of enhanced market transparency and open investment principals.  He is expected to highlight the benefits of supportive government policies that have led to investments in cutting-edge energy technologies.

On Sunday (June 8), Secretary Bodman will participate in the G8+3 Energy Ministerial Meeting with sessions focusing on diversifying supply to incorporate cleaner energy sources, innovative energy technologies, energy efficiency, and current oil and gas market investment climates.  Secretary Bodman will deliver remarks highlighting investments in next-generation clean and renewable energy technologies that will help the U.S. and other nations keep pace with rising energy demand.  He will also encourage his G8 counterparts to promote market-oriented, technology-driven solutions to allow continued global economic growth.

This will be Secretary Bodman’s second time participating in both the Five-Country Energy Ministerial and the G8 Energy Ministerial since being named Energy Secretary in 2005.  In 2006, Secretary Bodman participated in the inaugural Five-Country Energy Ministerial in Beijing and in the G8 Ministerial in Russia.

The Five-Country Energy Ministerial includes China, Japan, Korea, India and the U.S., which together represent about half of the world’s energy consumption.  The G8 comprises the G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S.)—which together account for about two-thirds of the world's economic output—plus Russia, which began participating in a portion of the meetings starting in 1994.  The leaders of these largest industrialized democracies have met annually since 1975 to discuss major economic and political issues.

Media contact(s):
Bethany Shively, (202) 586-4940