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Energy security,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], innovation top EU summit agenda
European Union (EU) leaders will meet on Friday to explore ways of ensuring energy security and boosting innovation among the 27-member bloc, with the debt crisis and Egypt also on their agenda.
President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], who will chair the meeting,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], said in an invitation letter that the leaders are expected to quickly endorse the draft conclusions concerning the future direction of the EU's energy policy."I would like our discussion to focus on one of the most crucial aspects,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], that of energy security,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," he said.
To ensure energy supply of the 27-member bloc,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the leaders will discuss in detail how to complete a single internal energy market and diversify its routes of supply and sources of energy.
"We must achieve a fully integrated competitive European energy market with regulations and closely linked infrastructure connections," Van Rompuy said in a video message delivered on Wednesday."Securing energy supply is also extremely important, because the European Union depends on others," he stressed.
Another topic at Friday's summit is the bloc's innovation policy."We will discuss which concrete initiatives can boost innovation in a way which benefits citizens,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], companies and researchers,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," Van Rompuy said in his invitation letter.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, warned on Tuesday that the EU was failing to keep up with the U.S. and Japan in innovation and was facing increasing competition from emerging economies such as Indian Brazil and China.President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday that energy and innovation are "central to our aim of restoring sustainable growth and increasing the European Union's competitiveness".
He said the leaders "should identify clear,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], concrete deliverables" at their summit and the discussion and the outcome should be as operational and productive as possible.Besides energy and innovation policies,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the leaders are also expected to discuss how to deal with the debt crisis, taking stock of the progress made so far and "set out a clear path towards a comprehensive package" by the summit in March.
"This entails agreement on strengthening the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the decision on the treaty change and agreement on the operational features of the future European Stability Mechanism,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a determined pursuit of national reforms and fiscal consolidation, and ways of better ensuring macroeconomic coherence within the euro area,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," Van Rompuy said.
But analysts said that no breakthroughs are expected at this summit given the fact that the debt crisis is easing and disagreement remain over how to strengthen the EFSF.On the external part, the EU leaders will exchange views on the latest events in Egypt and Tunisia and their implications for the region itself and the EU.
Energy efficiency of China's energy intensive sectors up 20 pct in past 5 years: NBS
The energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) for China's major energy intensive industries decreased by more than 20 percent during the 2006-2010 period,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the statistics authorities have reported.The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) attributed the rising energy efficiency for the industries to the government's growing investment in energy savings,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and the accelerated energy-saving technological upgrading for the sectors.
The sectors include oil processing, coking and nuclear fuel processing,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], chemicals and chemical product manufacturing,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], non-metallic mineral product manufacturing,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], ferrous metal smelting and rolling,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], nonferrous metal smelting and rolling, and electricity and heat producing and supplying.Data from the energy department of the NBS showed that the industries had saved a total of 400 million tonnes of standard coal,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], contributing more than 60 percent to the entire country' s energy savings.
The performance of the energy intensive sectors is key to whether China can reach its energy efficiency goal,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], as the industries accounted for about 77 percent of China's total industrial energy consumption and more than half of the country's total energy consumption, said the NBS.China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said last month that China could basically meet its goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by about 20 percent from 2005 levels by the end of 2010.