"CRISIS OF ENERGETIC RELATIONS IS POSSIBLE IN THIS REGION IN COMING
YEARS" EXPERT
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The new stage of the formation of the
energetic policy system of the Southern Caucasus region is starting at
the beginning of the 21st century, which is marked by the return of
Russia into this territory and its active role, as well as by the
involvement of Iran in the energetic processes of the Southern Caucasus
for the first time. This opinion was expressed by Sevak Sarukhanian, a
candidate for politology and the Deputy Head of the Noravank fund, in
his speech made at the February 7 international press conference
dedicated to the cooperation problems of the countries of the Caucasus
and the Near East in the formation process of the regional security.
The Iranian participation was mainly stipulated by the signing of the
agreement on the Armenia-Iran gas main construction, as well as by the
endorsement of the energetic cooperation with Azerbaijan. The latter is
likely to pass to a completely different level after Azerbaijan puts
into operation the gas main providing a possibility to export the
Azerbaijani gas to the northern parts of Iran. According to the
speaker, the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey format of the energetic
cooperation and the Armenia-Russia and the Armenia-Iran formats are, in
fact, competing with each other. At present, it is a period, when the
United States of America on the one hand and Russia and Iran on the
other will cooperate with each other more closely in the region. It is
conditioned by the fact that the political energetic situation in the
Central Asia is radically changing: Kazakhstan will soon enter the
world energetic market with its great reserves of oil and gas,
Turkmenistan is developing new borders for the shipping of its gas, the
unprecedented conflict between Turkmenistan and Iran two weeks ago
caused the stopping of shipping of the Turkmenian gas to the northern
parts of Iran.
According to Sarukhanian, the endorsement of the Iran-Azerbaijan format
of the cooperation on the one hand and the strengthening of the
relations between Turkmenistan and Russia , as well as the signing of
the Turkmenian-European agreement on the cooperation in the energetic
sphere on the other are a qualitative change in the situation of the
region. Multi-vector interests cannot be fulfilled without taking into
consideration the interests of all the producing-exporting countries of
the region. In this respect, the coming years will bring forth a real
crisis of energetic relations or a compromise will be found between the
main performers, which can play a positive role in the futher political
integration in the region.