ENI foresees solid partnerships in Muslim countries

(AGI) Turin, Nov 17 - Solid links in Muslim countries wasforecast by ENI Vice President of Political and InstitutionalScenarios and Analysis, Dario Speranza on Monday. He said: "Thestrategic role of Arab nations' sovereign funds, with greatavailability of natural resources, is increasing every year,with investments that are reaching ever further towards theheart of the global financial market." He told the TurinIslamic Economic Forum: "The need to find new means ofprotecting changes in the growingly pluralistic financial worldis emerging, together with the urgency of opening [up] towardsnew partnerships. By reinforcing those principles that havealways marked finance in Islam, it is possible to increase thevalue of the 'peace potential' that a responsible, inclusive,and fair use of resources can have in realigning the currentlydifficult regional and international balances, as well towardsmore sustainable development. "ENI has a long and consolidatedhistory in building solid partnerships with Muslim nations onequal standing, on the basis of the principle that naturalresources belong to the people of the host state and thatcontributing towards local development is a key element for asuccessful strategy." He went on: "This philosophy, firstapplied by Enrico Mattei in the early 1950s, has since inspiredthe group's approach in expanding its activities throughout theMuslim world. Around half of ENI's oil and gas production isthe result of our presence in Muslim-majority states. FromAlgeria to Indonesia, Pakistan to Iraq, today ENI is a strongpartner for local communities and governments. The group'sfocus on local investment is deep, with an average of 70percent of employees hired locally. The commitment towardsdialogue, education, and vocational training programmes isparticularly important, because it reflects the desire to sharethe benefits of our commercial activities with host states." Henoted that: "ENI actively participates with governments andlocal institutions to reduce our environmental impact as muchas possible and to promote both the use of alternative energysources and growth of the renewal energy sector. ENI takes partin the sustainable growth of the communities it interacts with,creating the conditions for economic self-sufficiency. Anemblematic example of how we operate is Indonesia, the largestMuslim nation in the world, in which ENI has been operatingsince 1968. ENI employs a significant number of Indonesiancitizens in our Exploration & Production, Construnction andDrilling activities, with many Indonesians holdinginternational qualifications and key positions in businessdevelopment, HSE, HR, and technical areas. Furthermore, ENIoffers job training for graduates through structured trainingprogrammes. In 2001, ENI Indonesia was the first company in theE&P sector to obtain the ISO-14001 cerfitification for itsoperations. This demonstrates the effort made by ENI'smanagement in Indonesia for a constant improvement of HSEstandards and integrating them in all of the company'sactivities." He concluded: "ENI's commitment towards improvingthe lives of the local people is shown by the sanitation andeducation programmes, and numerous social ones that aresimultaneously autonomous and well integrated in the country'ssocial fabric. They involve the construction and restructuringof rural health centres, donating equipment for detectingmalaria, training midwives, vaccination campaigns for childrenand pregnant women, as well as providing stationary andlearning material for local schools." (AGI).