Press release 16 May 2007
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

OECD Ministerial Council welcomes initiative on biofuels

The OECD ministerial meeting decided today to intensify work on biofuels, after a proposal submitted by Sweden and the Netherlands.

According to the decision, the role of biofuels and the multilateral trading system will be analysed in a joint project between the OECD Secretariat and the International Energy Agency (IEA). The result will be presented at next year's OECD Ministerial Council Meeting.

"The OECD is at the forefront as regards globalisation issues and is therefore well suited to studying future trade policy issues. The question of trade in biofuels is particularly important in light of the climate issue. So I am pleased about the response to our proposal. The OECD will intensify its work in this area during next year," says Minister for Foreign Trade Sten Tolgfors.

"I want the creation of a world market for biofuels. For this we need more producers, the elimination of trade barriers and to refrain from dividing up the world with various agreements that exclude some and include others," says Sten Tolgfors.