Asia Programme - [02/05/2007]

“In the face of the european crisis, the solution is to open up to Eurasia”

Luis Martínez Montes, Counsellor in the Spanish permanent representation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) indicated, in the Jordi Maragall Hall of the CIDOB Foundation, that the solution to the crisis in Europe involves broadening the context of international relations toward Asia. Martínez Montes made this declaration in Eurasia. Dilemmas in Security and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources in Central Asia, a conference organised by the CIDOB Foundation’s Asia Programme, Casa Asia and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation.

The counsellor in the Spanish permanent representation to the OSCE pointed out that establishing itself in Eurasia is something that “the large powers, like the United Kingdom and Germany, are already doing”. Martínez Montes added that “Eurasia could become a new axis for Spanish foreign policy, in addition to the now traditional ones such as Latin America and Europe”.

The conference was dedicated, this time, to the two burning issues of security and energy. Special attention was paid to gas, a resource that requires the greatest integration and co-operation among the states in Eurasia, due to the difficulty in transporting it. Mariano Marzo, Professor of Energy Resources at the University of Barcelona, reminded the audience of the importance of the uranium reserves in Central Asia, in addition to its gas and oil. “In the face of energy stress, every drop counts”, he stated.

CASPIAN SEA COUNTRIES

Narcís Serra, President of the CIDOB Foundation, explained that in the sphere of energy, “Europe’s dependence with regard to Russia is well known, but if, on top of Russia, we add the area we call Eurasia, the dependence is even greater”. Serra proposed placing emphasis on the mutual dependencies of gas pipelines, since the owners “cannot not afford to not have their customer on the other end”.

For his part, Svante Cornell, Director of Research at the Central Asia – Caucasus Institute, at Johns Hopkins University and Uppsala University, explained that Russia is not investing in its gas fields, which are in decline, and it is opting for exploiting other countries’ gas in order to “sell it to the Europeans at three or four times the price”. Cornell predicted that in less than a decade the counties around the Caspian Sea will have “a gas capacity corresponding to the increase in consumption that Europe needs”.

In addition, Rakhmatulina Gulnur Galimovna, Head of the Department of Economic Studies at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, explained that currently they are prioritising “modernising” their economy, for which reason foreign investors who aim to do business should “collaborate with Russia, create a common market and increase the country’s growth”.

Eurasia. Dilemmas in Security and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources in Central Asia served as the framework for the presentation of the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the OSCE in 2007. Josep Ribera, Director of the CIDOB Foundation; Fred Halliday, Lecturer in International Relations at the London School of Economics; José Angel López-Jorrín, Ambassador on a Special Mission for the co-ordination of the Spanish Presidency of the OSCE in 2007; Max Spoor, Co-ordinator of the Centre for the Study of Transition and Development at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague (Netherlands); Rafael Bueno, Director of Seminars, Conferences and Studies in Casa Asia.

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