At the meeting of the European Council in Bremen on July 6–7, 1978, the nine member states of the European Community defined the primary goal of their energy policy: reducing their dependence on petroleum. Additionally, they aimed to limit net oil imports into the European Community, reduce imports in the energy sector to 50%, and improve the relationship between gross domestic production and energy use by 1985. The member states also decided to better coordinate their energy policies, to make more efficient use of the natural resources of the European Community, and to exhaust all alternative sources of energy—including nuclear energy. The European Council also emphasized the importance of world-wide cooperation in energy policy. Cooperation was to involve industrial nations and developing countries alike.