Seed of Energy Cooperation Germinates in EU-Central Asia Forum

nCa Report

Ashgabat, 14April 2008 (nCa) --- The withered seed of EU-Central Asia energy cooperation finally showed some signs of germination on conclusion of the EU Troika-Central Asia forum 10 April in Ashgabat.

The agenda was wide in scope but energy cooperation remained quite dominant.

EU heavyweights such as Dimitrij Rupel, foreign minister of Slovenia and head of EU external relations coucil, Ms. Benita Ferrero-Walder, EU external relations commissioner, Bernard Kouchner, foreign minister of France (the next chair of EU), and Pierre Morel, EU special envoy for Central Asia, faced the foreign ministers of CA (Central Asian) countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – in candid talks, first in bilateral and then in multilateral format.

EU-CA Energy Cooperation

nCa learned in separate, exclusive conversations with Bernard Kouchner, Dimitrij Rupel, and Pierre Morel, that EU-Turkmenistan MoU on energy cooperation could be almost ready for signing.

French foreign minister Kouchner was the most optimistic.

nCa asked Kouchner, “After your bilateral meeting with the president [of Turkmenistan] and multilateral meeting in the EU-CA format, is there any change in the status of Nabucco and Trans-Caspian?”

Kouchner said, “Yes, there is certainly some hope. The president has decided to furnish Europe, and of course France, with gas. This is a very good decision according to our opinion. It is highly welcome by the EU because it was a troika meeting, and also by us, the French people, because it was exactly one of our purposes. We want to diversify the sources of our energy supplies.”

When asked by nCa whether he meant by ‘the president has decided’ that some kind of MoU or other document had been signed, Kouchner said it is a “good political decision.”

Pierre Morel, EU special envoy for CA, seemed to confirm Kouchner’s enthusiasm. When asked by nCa about any progress on Nabucco and Trans-Caspian, Morel said, “There was talk on Trans-Caspian, handling of all the studies. As you know, the commission (EC) has made in-depth consideration of all the possible options. Yes, we are very much considering a concrete approach – economic and technical options. The idea of the energy corridor is connected with Nabucco.”

It appears that for the time being the EU would like to remain low key on Iran route for transit of CA energy resources to Europe event though talks with Iran are reportedly moving ahead on platforms other than EU.

Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenian foreign minister and head of the EU external relations council was asked by nCa whether EU had any plans to engage Iran for transit of CA energy.

He said, “No, the EU at the moment doesn’t have any substantial engagement plans with Iran. As you know, in our name [Javiar] Solana speaks to designated interlocutors on the Iranian side, and the topic is proliferation; that is the only topic we are discussing at this point. As you know, the EU is extremely worried about the problem of proliferation and I am afraid nothing much has been achieved so far. There are sanctions; the sanctions may be even strengthened, I mean intensified, but no opening for the moment.”

Considering that Slovenia is the current and France is the next chair of EU, and Pierre Morel is permanent point man for EU-CA liaison, the picture that emerges after looking at their remarks is that prospects for Trans-Caspian, and Nabucco by extension, are fairly encouraging though not particularly exciting.

Rupel anchored the press conference at the end of EU Troika and CA talks. In his opening remarks to the media, Rupel underlined the phrase “trade without intermediaries.”

After saying that “the strategy we have developed together is structured dialogue on human rights,” Rupel moved on to energy issues.

“We have decided that we should dedicate more attention to energy security problems, whereby we meant diversification, whereby we meant different corridors of energy resources toward EU.”

Rupel was talking of ‘corridors’, not a single corridor. Considering that in his earlier remarks he had categorically rejected the Iran option, and his stress on ‘trade without intermediaries’ removes Russia from the picture, one is left wondering as to what other corridor is being considered besides Trans-Caspian.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations, gave a broader picture of energy cooperation. Talking of diversification of resources and supply routes, Ms. Ferrero-Waldner said, “We have already signed MoU with Kazakhstan. We are signing MoU with Turkmenistan soon; we have finalized the negotiations. We would now also be ready to enter into dialogue to see all the options with energy with Uzbekistan.”

It could be a coincidence but the joint Turkmen-Austrian commission met in Ashgabat when the EU-CA forum was in progress. Since Austria is the prime mover of Nabucco it is inevitable that some talks must have taken place on Nabucco and its feed pipe, the Trans-Caspian.

Other issues

There were certainly issues other than energy. As the Kazakh foreign minister pointed out during the press conference, “We must understand that it is dialogue, not monologue.”

Ms. Ferrero-Waldner pointed out that the EU had doubled its allocation to the CA region from 2000 to 2007; the currently earmarked funds stand at Euro 314 million. Of this, 70% would be spent in bilateral programmes and 30% in regional projects.

The thrust remains on education with emphasis on job-oriented study courses.

Rule of law, judicial reforms and training of judges are also a priority area.

Business reforms with focus on small and medium enterprises through EU-CA Invest initiative are also considered important for EU-CA relations.

Water management, in the backdrop of climate change and global warming, has gained prominence in EU-CA dialogue. Rupel said, “We couldn’t change climate but we have discussed climate change anyway.”

Ferrero-Waldner said that final feasibility study on hydro power plants in CA keeping in view the interests of the upstream and downstream countries was nearly ready.

Border management in the context of drug trafficking remained a source of concern for EU. “A lot of drugs smuggled through the area arrive the EU states,” said Rupel.

He mentioned that EU was fully engaged with Afghanistan through a number of structures.

Rupel said that EU was worried about the Iran’s nuclear programme, its role in Middle East peace process and deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

EU-CA on Fast Track

The momentum that has been building for the last one year in EU-CA relations is coming to surface now.

EU external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, visited Dushanbe before coming to Ashgabat.

French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, flew from Ashgabat to Dushanbe where, among other things, he was to chair a meeting of the French ambassadors in the Central Asia and Caucasus region.

Europa House Opened

Immediately on conclusion of the EU-CA forum, the opening ceremony of Europa House took place. It is located in Mizan business centre, right opposite the President Hotel in Ashgabat.

A leaflet distributed to the guests says, ‘The implementation and management support office in Turkmenistan – Europa House is the focal point for all EC assistance and general EU initiatives in Turkmenistan.’

The idea seems not fully baked. Chances are that it could merely become a bureaucratic hurdle in the way of whatever is being done by EU in bilateral and multilateral format in Turkmenistan. Moreover, it seems to have the potential of evolving into something that may not be to the liking of either EU or Turkmenistan.