Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute spoke about Energy Diplomacy to students and experts in Kharkiv

On September 19, 2017 the round table discussion “Energy diplomacy: what does it mean for Ukraine” took place in Kharkiv.

The event was held in the frames of a project of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute under the financial support of the governments of the USA and Bulgaria. Organizational partner is iC consulenten.

The project is being financed through the fund aimed at support of initiatives, connected with energy safety and energy diversification in countries of Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.

The discussion of energy diplomacy in Kharkiv gathered the representatives of Kharkov local authorities, leading European and Ukrainian experts of the energy sector as well as representatives of business, NGOs and students.

Anton Panteleymonov, a vice-rector for research and education of V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University, opened the event. He underlined the importance and relevance of this socio-educational project and thanked for the opportunity to attend the course of lectures and take part in the discussion of the topic at the round table with the leading experts.

Additional speakers included:

• Slavtcho Neykov, energy policy expert of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute
• Dr. Atanas Georgiev, Sofia University St.Climent Ohridskiy, expert of  the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute
• Irina Konovalova, head of Kharkiv office of the European Business Association
• Vyacheslav Gusyev, energy efficiency expert
• Ivan Yefanov, PhD, energy efficiency expert

Elena Rybak, a director of iC consulenten and a member of the Board of the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency, moderated the round table discussion.

The live interest to the topic of energy diplomacy is caused by the importance of tasks it faces. First of all, they include integration of the Ukrainian market into the European and global markets, ensuring sustainable energy consumption and smooth operation of energy systems, as well as attracting different resources (including financial) for the development of internal market.

Ukraine is an important partner for energy system of the European Union. “European states want to see Ukraine as a full-value member of the European Energy Community, – stressed Slavcho Neykov. – For them it will mean a reliable gas transit to the Western Europe”.

However, energy diplomacy in Ukraine is not working yet to the full extend, despite absolute necessity. The participants of the round table discussed in details the obstacles of its development.

“There will be no success in energy diplomacy without successful business”, – said Irina Konovalova, head of the Kharkiv office of the European Business Association. – Another important component is the established interaction between the government and business, which will undoubtedly help make the energy diplomacy policy more effective and comprehensive”.

Vyacheslav Gusyev, a practitioner engineer and energy efficiency expert, pondered on the following question: “Does energy diplomacy exist in Ukraine”? He underlined that it will start to work effectively only under the condition of systematic approach and straight consecutive actions of all players of energy market, refusal from old methods of work, usage of worldwide known best practices while implementing both, the international and local projects in the cities.

An integrated part of the successful introduction of energy diplomacy in our country is the perfect and valid legislative framework. “So, was there a revolutionary legislative breakthrough in the energy sector?” – Ivan Yefanov, an expert on energy efficiency, answered this question, presenting the overview of the latest adopted legislative acts and progress in the reforming the industry.

At the end of the discussion, Elena Rybak reminded participants that Energy Diplomacy is not only about problems of Ukraine with energy safety and about interaction of Ukraine with international partners. Energy Diplomacy is also about the role of Ukraine in global processes. “We cannot stand aside of such processes as climate change. If the increase of temperature to 2 degrees Celsius won’t be stopped, at least hundreds millions of people will move to the extreme poverty line” – said Elena Rybak. The question regarding how Ukraine will use Energy Diplomacy for avoiding global catastrophes remains open for our further discussions.