On Thursday, July 2, 2009, the European Union’s Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs praised EWI’s energy security initiatives and called for more intellectual contributions to bridge the East-West divide, especially in EU-Ukraine-Russia energy relations.

At a high-level dinner hosted by EWI Vice-Chairman Armen Sarkissian, Piebalgs backed EWI’s efforts to facilitate reform of the global energy architecture and to help establish secure international nuclear fuel banks. These two measures can allay growing international concerns about access to energy and rebuild confidence in cooperative approaches to energy security.

The dinner included discussion of new approaches to energy security and highlighted major challenges, including the so-called “nuclear renaissance”, tensions between energy exporters and importers and inefficiencies in market regulation and pricing mechanisms. 

In addition to Piebalgs, attendees included 17 senior business executives, diplomats, policymakers and thought leaders from 10 countries and 3 continents.

Among the topics of discussion:     

• Reform of the global energy security architecture     
• EU–Ukraine–Russia energy relations and relations between energy consumers and suppliers
• Energy markets and pricing mechanisms
• Establishment of a new multilateral nuclear order
• International nuclear fuel banks and the future of civil nuclear energy
• National and global regulatory frameworks

Piebalgs’s endorsement is a significant boost for our energy security initiatives. We will continue to build bridges between the U.S., Europe, Russia and China and pursue more stable and secure global energy markets.