Energy Charter | June 2012
Ambassador Urban Rusnák has recently appointed two Special Envoys, Mr. Jan-Meinte Postma and Mr. Mehmet Öğütçü, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty. The Special Envoys have been tasked to represent the Secretary-General on key occasions and in specified areas of activities to advance the strategic objectives of the Energy Charter.
On Monday April 8th, the Secretary-General met with both Mr. Postma and Mr. Öğütçü to agree the way forward for their contributions. The Secretary- General thanked both envoys for accepting the appointment, and for their commitment to support the Energy Charter process. The meeting included an in-depth discussion of recent developments in the Energy Charter in particular on Modernisation of the Charter Process, Updating of the Energy Charter Declaration (known as the “Warsaw Process”) and on the outreach towards targeted MENA countries.
Jan-Meinte Postma
Mr. Jan-Meinte Postma in his role as Special Envoy will assist the Secretary-General on the Warsaw Process and generally with the Modernisation process.
Mr. Postma was born in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. He studied Social Sciences, Philosophy and Economics at the Universities of Groningen and Rotterdam. He started his career by working for the United Nations with postings in Vienna and Lima, Peru. In 1980 Mr. Postma joined the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs holding various positions in the field of international economic relations. In 1997 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked in the capacity of Minister Plenipotentiary, first in Brussels at the Netherlands Mission to the European Union, and as of 2002 at the Netherlands Mission in Geneva responsible for the World Trade Organisation. Mr. Postma was the Netherlands Energy Envoy from 2006 till 2013.
Mr. Mehmet Öğütçü will focus principally on the Energy Charter efforts to achieve strategic priorities in relation to Expansion and Outreach. He will support, and contribute initially to, the Secretariat’s engagement with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a view to realising their closer integration into the Energy Charter Process.
Mr. Öğütçü is a Turkish national and an internationally recognised authority on energy, investment, finance and geopolitics over the past 30 years. He has developed significant knowledge, experience and a track-record on policy matters related to energy, finance and investment. He has had a particular geographic focus on Europe, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East and China for most of his career as a Turkish diplomat, IEA principal administrator, OECD executive and BG Group director for government relations. He is currently serving as chairman, board member and strategic advisor in a number of multinational corporations.
