Last of the series Energy Diplomacy round table was held in Odesa

On the 7^th of November, 2018 iC consulenten, acting as implementing partner of the project of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute (BDI), supported organization of the final round table “Energy Diplomacy: what does it mean for Ukraine”.  BDI was implementing a project in frames of the US Government “Emerging Donors Challenge Fund”, aimed to support initiatives related to the Energy Security and Energy Diversification in the Western Balkan countries, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia. The project included series of energy diplomacy lectures in the leading Ukrainian universities and expert meetings (round tables) with private and public sector players.

Odessa was the final city hosting series of events. Previously the round tables and lectures for students on Energy Diplomacy took place in Kyiv, Lviv, Chernivtsi, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya.

Participants of the last round table represented universities, NGO’s, think tanks, representatives of diplomatic missions and experts.

Speakers of the round table included

• Dmytro Dmytryshyn, pro-rector of Odesa National Polytechnic University,
• Slavtcho Neykov, Energy Policy Expert, Member of the Advisory Board of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute and Institute of Energy Management,
• Dr. Atanas Georgiev, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Expert of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute,
• Oleksandr Klymchuk, Director of CTT (Centre of Technology Transfer), Head of department for thermal power stations and Energy Efficient Technologies of ONPU,
• Vitaliy Savych, Deputy Director of Odesa Municipal Energy Agency,
• Yulia Kirvas, Chairman of the Board of PA “Odesa Regional Energy Cluster”,
• Anton Antonenko, Vice President of Dixi group
• and Sergei Leyvikov, Energy Efficiency Expert of UNDP.

Participants discussed critical aspects related to Energy Diplomacy both on the internal energy market within Ukraine and as part of international cooperation. Mr. Neykov outlined two key legal documents: Association Agreement and the Energy Community Treaty, which are important to understand within the “energy diplomacy framework”. Given that Ukraine is a large country it makes it an important player in the energy talks in the South Eastern region. The relationship between Ukraine and the EU is a two-way street, and as much as Ukraine depends on the outcome of energy decisions and plans, the same way EU depends on decisions and strategies Ukraine puts forward in this sector. Further, participants discussed Ukraine’s progress in transposing EU directives, gave numerous examples of energy diplomacy on the practical national and local level, discussed challenges faced during the energy diplomacy dialogue.

In the end, participants concluded that Energy Diplomacy consists of few main pillars of communication:

a)       National, municipal and local -> communication limited to the internal/domestic market

b)       National level -> communication focused on international arena

c)        Municipal level -> communication focused on international arena

d)       Local (mostly referred to business, associations) -> communication going directly on the international level. At this stage, the participants also discussed the importance of lobbying, law on lobbying and sensitive line of where the interests of private organizations intersect the interests of the country in general.

It became clear that Ukraine needs additional educational programmes, which will help build capacities and grow energy diplomacy experts.