A symposium on the future of the nuclear energy in the 21st century began its deliberations here on Monday. The Saudi delegation to the symposiums is led by Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al-Saud, the Deputy Supervisor of the Space Research Institute at King Abdulaziz City for Sciences and Technology (KACST). Addressing the symposium, Prince Turki urged the European countries to remove all obstacles that might face marketing of oil. He noted that the Saudi oil policy is based on cooperation with oil producing and consuming countries. 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which owns more than one quarter of the total world oil reserves, is the biggest oil producer and exporter, and its oil reserves are expected to increase in the light of the ongoing oil explorations in the country', he said. 'The Kingdom is keen on cooperation with oil producing and consuming countries, and at the same time it is keen on building a national efficient and competitive petroleum industry' he said adding that 'the Kingdom will also remain keen on conducting dialogue with all countries on issues pertaining to energy and environment'. Prince Turki underscored the importance of continuation of petroleum as a basic source of energy, and said 'stability of the oil market will positively contribute to enhancing oil supplies'. Moreover, Prince Turki said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes in the necessity of the existence of a free oil market which does not contradict with the forces of demand and supply. 'Taking that into account, the Kingdom would like to make it clear that it opposes the existing discrimination against petroleum by some consuming countries through imposing high taxes on the petroleum products', he elaborated. --more 1333 Local Time 1033 GMT
