The 23rd World Energy Congress

10.10.2016
Turkey

The 23rd World Energy Congress convened today in Istanbul, bringing together delegations of senior officials and ministers from 85 countries around the world.

"Energy for Peace"

It is expected that the Congress participants - more than 250 ministers and senior officials, decision-makers in the energy sector in countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Jordan, Venezuela, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Algeria, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay - will gather at the Congress to create a global energy agenda.

During the opening ceremony, Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said that the motto of the forum is "Energy for Peace", which can be understood in several ways: as "peaceful", and as "creating good neighborly relations", which is important in the context of what one of the central events is likely to be, the signing of the Russian-Turkish agreement on "Turkish stream", and the construction of nuclear power plants under the "Akkuyu" project which Russian energy Minister, Alexander Novak, said in an interview with the Turkish media was the shortest way for the normalization of relations.

Putin Factor

Despite the fact that the Congress will be attended by several heads of state, public and media attention focused on the visit to Istanbul by Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is his first visit to the country after the incident with the Russian plane. Prior to that, after the official apology from Turkey, the two leaders met several times - in China and in Russia.

In addition to meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin will meet in Istanbul with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who made a statement over the weekend that the country will for many decades be an energy power, the basis of  the economy being oil and gas production.

In addition, over the weekend several contracts in the energy sector between Russia, Venezuela and Spain were signed. However, it is likely that the discussion will concern not only this, but also instability in the political situation in Venezuela resulting from the actions of the pro-American opposition, which Russian Foreign Ministry called inadmissible in a public statement. This may be designed to attenuate a counter-plan to Washington in the region.

Superpower

The increased attention of the World Energy Congress on President Putin can be explained. Russia has been and still is an energy superpower, of the "new type", which implies not only primarily oil and gas, but also in coal reserves, and also by virtue of having world's largest nuclear arsenal, engages in high-tech construction of nuclear power plants around the world.

And in light of the recently broken agreements with the United States, including in the nuclear sphere, Moscow not has unfettered opportunities to create their own, innovative energy policy.

Innovations in the field of energy

Earlier innovations in the field engaged in Japan, which also  reached several important agreements over the weekend, which however officially have not yet been signed. Tokyo had to stop their projects because of the seismological danger and, consequently, the high cost of maintenance of innovative power. Despite the fact that since the beginning of the development of this project more than ten years ago, there are no such stations in the world, and Moscow could adopt some Japanese development.

In addition, an agreement on the financing of Japan's natural gas production by Russian producers in the Arctic North Sea was concluded. Recall that at the moment, gas is taken only from the continental Arctic.

All of this no doubt brings Moscow to a new level, not only energy but also in world politics in general.

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World Energy Congress
Istanbul
Energy
geoeconomy
Putin
Superpower