On February 12th, the EastWest Institute and the MGIMO University held an expert meeting on the progressive change in the international energy system. Held at the MGIMO University in Moscow, the "consultation" took a long-term view of the implications of new challenges linked to energy and climate change for global security. The meeting included some of Russia's leading academics and energy security experts, as well as foreign diplomats based in Moscow who offered a very future-oriented perspective on likely global energy trends and shared their global outlooks with respect to the energy security situation over the next 10-15 years.

Meeting participants targeted following trends and issues:

• Lack of common understanding on how to define (or re-define) energy and energy security in a wider prospective was identified as a serious problem. Experts suggested including more practical environment and climate change issues into widen the energy security concept.
• Population growth and a shifting balance from the private sector towards state-controlled energy companies has put significant stress on regional and global energy markets. Energy has become a 'spinal cord' of modern society and is often considered as a public good while at the same time, with its high prices, energy is becoming increasingly politicized. Consequently, we are witnessing a significant change in the rules of the game and appearance of new powerful non-state and, in particular, state actors.
• It is essential to prevent unnecessary competition for assets, transportation routes, and energy supplies between global state-controlled and private energy companies.  The lack of tansparency regarding energy trading, reserve assessment by producing countries and energy companies, and interference of energy business and politics produce significant instability and turbulence in regulation and rule-making.
• There is a need to overcome tensions and misperceptions, and to define the role of states, the private sector, and international institutions in energy affairs, as well as to harmonize various strategies using different private-public partnership mechanisms (for instance under the G8 umbrella)
• A new holistic international energy regime (similar to the international maritime regime) is sine qua non for the stability of international energy markets. It will provide political leadership, a basis for public-private partnership, synergy strategies, and a direct link between local and national concepts of energy security. In fact, several solutions are attainable by market means if the necessary conditions and incentives are in place.
• There is a need to define which types of goals are achievable through market or through inter-governmental mechanisms. For instance, technical innovation and diversification can be achieved through market means, while environmental standards should be set at the national or inter-governmental level.
• Participants agreed that global energy security could not be attained through a single magic bullet. There is need to apply different sets of solutions, for instance, through the promotion of local ownership/production of energy, new cleaner and safer fuels, new relationships, more transparency in the relationship between different stakeholders, predictability of energy prices, deeper and more global energy markets, etc.