EDB continues to foster cooperation between the EU and the EEU
Almaty, 15 May 2015. The future of Eurasian energy markets was the focus of discussion between EU and EEU officials and experts who took part in the high-level workshop in Laxenburg, Austria, this week.
The discussion took place in the framework of the international project Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Integration within a Wider European and Eurasian Space co-organised by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
The participants included Tair Mansurov, EEC Minister in charge of Energy and Infrastructure, and Peter Balas, Deputy Director General, DG Trade, European Commission. EDB’s representatives were Vladimir Yasinsky, Managing Director for Research, and Evgeny Vinokurov, Director of the Centre for Integration Studies. The discussion was focused on the most important energy challenges in the continent such as trade in oil and gas, construction and operation of oil and gas pipelines, and the EU Third Energy Package. In addition, experts provided various scenarios for the near ten to fifteen years and discussed how to develop energy trade between Russia and EU countries.
EDB supports integration projects and initiatives in Eurasia, including those related to overcoming crisis in relationships with the European Union. This forum continued a series of high-level workshops on interaction between the EU and the EEU in the area of trade, investment and sectoral cooperation, which will continue until the end of the next year. The Centre for Integration Studies provides expert support for these meetings.
“We have created a unique floor, which is very important in the current context and where EU and EEU officials and experts can discuss in an atmosphere of confidence the most pressing issues of continental cooperation,” says Evgeny Vinokurov, Director of the Centre for Integration Studies.
Additional Information
Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
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