Brussels, 25/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - Increased cooperation on energy efficiency was at the heart of the first exchange of views between European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and new International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka in Brussels on Monday 24 September. Tanaka was appointed to his post for a four-year renewable period on 1 September. The two discussed details of the Commission proposal for an energy efficiency platform, the secretariat of which would be assumed by the IEA. Piebalgs and Tanaka also agreed on the Commission's involvement in the IEA initiative on new implementing agreements on efficient electrical end-use equipment. Expressing support for the IEA-initiated International Combined Heat and Power and District Heating and Cooling Collaborative Effort, Piebalgs invited the IEA to become involved in the Energy Market Observation Scheme, an initiative currently limited restricted to a unit in DG Energy. 17 EU member states - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom - are members of the IEA. For further information on the work of the IEA in energy efficiency, go to: http: //http://www.iea.org/Textbase/subjectqueries/keyresult.asp?KEYWORD_ID=4122 (eh)