Transcript
CARLOS PASCUAL: Over recent years, one of the phenomena that we have come to see is that energy has become a major factor in the way that countries conduct their foreign policy and set their international security priorities.
On the supply side for those countries that have energy resources, it has been for them a source of unprecedented power for at least two reasons, I think. One is the wealth that it has generated for these countries and secondly, the strategic nature of the resource. It is something that drives the growth of countries. It affects the standards of living of individuals, whether they can heat their homes, whether they can take vacations. It has, obviously, a fundamental impact on the environment. And as a result of that, those who actually hold energy resources have in their hands a level of power in international security policies that they have never had in the past or at least in the recent past.
On the demand side, what we have seen is a quest for adequate and reliable and affordable supplies of energy, ideally clean energy that can continue to drive countries' economic growth and give them some security for the future. And this has inevitably affected the way that they set their priorities, the relationships they develop, and the way they play in the international arena. For example, in Europe, we just recently saw Chancellor Merkel and her relationship with President Putin and the emphasis that Germany has placed on that relationship with Russia. For China, it has had a huge impact on the role that China has played in Africa and in particular, in its relationship with Sudan and how China has voted on the UN Security Council. For the United States, obviously it has a huge impact on American policy in the Middle East and in the Caspian and with Russia.
Today what we want to do is to focus attention on four countries. And this is indeed the first phase of a project, an initiative by Brookings Institution that will continue to address energy issues, energy policy issues, and energy security issues.
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