Finance Secretary John Swinney visited the Rock Mechanics laboratory in Heriot-Watt's Institute of Petroleum Engineering (IPE) to mark the publication of a report from the Fiscal Commission Working Group which recommends that both a short-term stabilisation fund and a long-term savings fund should be established immediately following independence to maximise the economic opportunity of Scotland's oil and gas reserves.
Mr Swinney was welcomed by University Principal Professor Steve Chapman and Professor Dorrik Stow, Head of IPE, and talked with laboratory staff and some of the postgraduate students whose work involves the laboratory.
Speaking later to members of the press and media Mr Swinney, on behalf of the Scottish Government, welcomed the Working Group's report, which said that the economic rationale for establishing such funds is powerful and that they have been successfully implemented in the vast majority of natural resource rich countries.