BAKU ENERGY SUMMIT ADVANCES U.S. EURASIAN ENERGY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAKU 001097 E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL ENRG AJ TK SUBJECT: BAKU ENERGY SUMMIT ADVANCES U.S. EURASIAN ENERGY POLICY Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Donald Lu, Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On November 13-14 Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev hosted the IV Energy Summit in Baku, following up on previous energy summits in Krakow (May 2007),Vilnius (October 2007) and Kyiv (May 2008). Prominent attendees included the Heads of State of Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland. During the Summit Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed a key agreement on transport of Kazakh oil, and Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a multi-year gas supply contract, Georgia's first multi-year gas contract since its independence. Additionally, Turkish President Gul told USG Presidential Delegation members that he sought to cooperate with Azerbaijan on removing the current barriers as the way of actualizing the Southern Corridor for gas, but that he wished to do so "quietly, without bragging," so as not to irritate Russia. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY (continued): Summit Speeches and the Summit's Final Declaration, endorsed by Summit participants with the notable exception of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, stressed adhering to the fundamental principles of the Energy Charter Treaty and to diversifying energy sources and routes. The Declaration's key passage mentioned supporting "joint projects directed to the strengthening of energy security of Europe, especially gas transit projects, including those across the territories of Georgia and Turkey, including TGI, Nabucco, and others." Opposition Azerbaijani press referred to the Summit as "the Meeting of Russia's Enemies," as Georgia, Poland and Lithuania were clear in their denunciation of Russia's use of the "energy weapon." END SUMMARY. ¶3. (U) On November 13-14 Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev hosted the IV Energy Summit in Baku, following up on previous energy summits in Krakow (May 2007),Vilnius (October 2007) and Kyiv (May 2008). Prominent Heads of State attendees included the Presidents of Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, with non-HOS representation from Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Switzerland, and, from the EU, Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs (see Appendix for a fuller list of attendees). ¶4. (C) The three-person U.S. Presidential Delegation was headed by Energy Secretary Bodman, with Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy Diplomacy C. Boyden Gray and Ambassador Derse being the other two official members of the White House-designated Presidential Delegation. EUR DAS Bryza, in Baku for Minsk Group activities, also participated in all major Summit-related activities. In addition to attending the November 14 Summit itself, Secretary Bodman had separate bilateral meetings with President Aliyev (septel),Turkish President Gul, and Ukraine President Yushchenko. NOVEMBER 13 MINISTERIAL -------------- ¶5. (C) The GOAJ Ministry of Energy and Industry hosted a November 13 afternoon Ministerial level meeting during which a draft Final Summit Declaration was handed out and discussed. After two hours of inconclusive debate during which some participants were holding out for explicit mention of their respective countries' favored projects while others sought to keep the declaration at a more general level, the meeting was suspended until eleven PM that same day. During the follow-on meeting, which lasted until the early morning hours of the following day, a key compromise to the question of naming projects was introduced by DAS Bryza and subsequently worked on by SOCAR Vice-President Elshad Nassirov in conjunction with the Greek and Italian delegations. This proposed change explicity mentioned ITGI and Nabucco, but shunned a fuller list of specific projects in favor of the phrase "gas transit projects, including those across the territories of Georgia and Turkey, including TGI, Nabucco, and others." Only Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan did not accede to the Final Declaration. NOVEMBER 14 SUMMIT -------------- ¶6. (C) The November 14 Summit, held at Gulustan Palace, consisted entirely of speeches by the participating Heads of Delegation (upcoming septel). All participants' speeches focused on mutual interdependency and the consequent need for energy cooperation. Highlights included President Aliyev's opening remarks, which focused on Azerbaijan's efforts to create broader regional cooperation on energy, and on Azerbaijan's ability to become a gas exporter to Europe. Georgian President Saaskashvili's remarks were a blunt denunciation of Russia's recent aggressions in his country. Turkish President Gul said that the Southern Corridor "was at the top" of Turkey's agenda, and specifically mentioned the Nabucco and ITGI projects. Concerning Nabucco, Gul said that its success "depended on gas supply...in this respect we are in close contact with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan." ¶7. (C) In a private discussion following with SE Gray, President Gul said that Turkey sought to work with Azerbaijan to implement its Southern Corridor strategy. However, it had to do so "quietly, without bragging" in order not to aggrevate its relations with Russia, who was putting "tremendous pressure" on Turkey. Gul expressed similar sentiments in his meeting with Energy Secretary Bodman (septel). NEW AGREEMENTS -------------- ¶8. (C) Azerbaijan used the Summit to launch two major new agreements. The first an oil transportation agreement between SOCAR and KMG, in order to handle the expected Kazakh volumes from Kashagan (septel). The second agreement was a multi-year gas supply agreement between SOCAR and Georgia, Georgia's first multi-year gas supply contract since its independence. In a November 15 meeting with Ambassador Derse, Georgian Energy Minister Kheteguri expressed his government's satisfaction with this agreement,which obviated the annual winter exercise of scrambling to find sufficient gas supplies (septel). MEDIA COVERAGE -------------- ¶9. (C) Although not a major story in international press, in Azerbaijan both pro-government and opposition media gave broad coverage to the Summit, but with decidedly different approaches. All national TV and pro-government newspapers highlighted Azerbaijan's leadership in support of energy security cooperation, without any mention of Russia or disagreements over the Summit Declaration. Opposition papers however highlighted the Summit as "Russia's Enemies Meetin in Baku," and took pains to outline divisions over the Declaration text. ¶10. (C) COMMENT: President Aliyev is to be commended for his initiatve in expanding the purview of the Summit to encompass Southern Corridor issues, beyond the traditional tentpole of the Odessa-Brody pipeline, which most knowledgeable Azerbaijan participants see as unrealistic in the short-term. In this regard he is also to be commended for his courage in hosting a summit that was noticeable by its promulgation of energy principles and projects that cannot fail to anger its Russian neighbor. While it isn't yet clear whether his recent discussions with GOT President Gul will help remove the barriers blocking Azerbaijan export of its Shah Deniz Phase Two gas to Europe, at a minimum his efforts in this regard seem to have given momentum to a process that has been esssentially stalled for over a year. Similarly, the announcement of a multi-year gas supply contract with Georgia and an oil transportation agreement with Kazakhstan show that President Aliyev and Azerbaijan continue to work diligently on an Eurasian Energy Strategy that is in remarkable alliance with ours. END COMMENT. APPENDIX: SUMMIT ATTENDEES Azerbaijan ) President Ilham Aliyev Turkey ) President Abdullah Gul Georgia ) President Mikhail Saakashvili Ukraine ) President Victor Yuschenko Lithuania ) President Valdas Adamkus Poland ) President Lech Kachinsky Romania ) Foreign Minister Comenescu Bulgaria ) Vice-President Angel Marin Hungary ) Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany Estonia ) Prime Minister Andrus Ansipi Kazakhstan ) Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Sauat Minbayev Romania ) Foreign Affairs Minister Lazar Komenesku Greece ) Development Minister Christos Folias Italy ) Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Alfredo Mantika Turkmenistan ) Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Khoshgeldi Babayev Latvia ) Vice-Minister of Economy Bergholz Switzerland - Ambassador to Azerbaijan Alain Guidetti US ) Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman DERSE