About INOGATE

Important Notice about the INOGATE website The INOGATE website is currently being completely updated and revamped to reflect the wider scope of cooperation within the INOGATE Programme. The new INOGATE website will be in the form of an energy portal and will be launched in June/July 2008.

The INOGATE Programme is an international energy cooperation programme between the European Union, the Littoral States of the Black & Caspian Seas and their neighbouring countries.

Its four major objectives are:

1. Converging energy markets on the basis of the EU internal energy market principles taking into account the particularities of the involved countries;
2. Enhancing energy security by addressing the issues of energy exports/imports, supply diversification, energy transit and energy demand;
3. Supporting sustainable energy development, including the development of energy efficiency, renewable energy and demand side management; and
4. Attracting investment towards energy projects of common and regional interest.

Today, the INOGATE Programme has a much larger mandate than when it was created in 1995. While its name may be the same, its meaning has changed. The INOGATE Programme no longer stands for Interstate Oil and Gas Transport to Europe. INOGATE’s cooperation framework now not only addresses the oil and gas sector, but also the electricity, renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. INOGATE is concerned with the energy security of both the Partner Countries and the EU.

The transformation of the INOGATE Programme was a two-year process that began on 13 November 2004 with the Baku Energy Ministerial Conference, known as the ‘Baku Initiative’ of the INOGATE Programme. On 30 November 2006, this initiative culminated in the signing of the Astana Energy Ministerial Declaration through which the INOGATE Programme’s expanded mandate and objectives were formally adopted by all the involved countries.