We hope that Astana Roadmap will lift up Energy Charter to a brand new global level - Secretary General Urban Rusnák

In Brussels, Secretary General of the Energy Charter Secretariat Urban Rusnák shared his thoughts on Kazakhstan's chairmanship, modernization of the Energy Charter and what the Secretariat expects from the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Kazakhstan chairs the Energy Charter Conference this year. What do you expect from Kazakhstan as a chair and what documents are planned to be adopted? The Energy Charter Conference chaired by Kazakhstan's Minister of Oil and Gas Mr. Uzakbai Karabalin this year will be held in Astana in November. It will wrap up Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the organization. In the Kazakh capital, we are planning to adopt the Astana Roadmap. This document is of paramount importance since it will to certain extent determine the future of the organization for the next 5 years. The latest roadmap was adopted in Rome in 2009. And we truly hope that the new Astana Roadmap will be the document we will refer to when developing further program of the organization. It is important because currently the organization is going through a period of transformation. The Energy Charter created in the early 1990s as a bridge between East and West is gradually becoming a global organization. Hopefully, the Astana Roadmap will lift up the Energy Charter to a brand new global level. A ministerial meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Astana Conference as well. Representatives of energy industry from the Energy Charter member countries and heads of global energy corporations are expected to participate. The meeting will mainly focus on the problems of Eurasian transport corridors because Kazakhstan is a bridge between East and West, North and South. It is located in the heart of the Energy Charter Treaty member states and as a landlocked country is interested in the development of transport corridors, including oil and gas pipelines. We are looking forward to recommendations that will be put forward at the meeting. The Energy Charter Secretariat and Kazenergy Association have teamed up to launch courses for young specialists in Astana in June. Please, tell us about that initiative in more details. Last year the Energy Charter and Kazenergy Association signed a memorandum of cooperation as part of which the Secretariat will arrange Astana-based courses for young experts in the field of energy. Attendees will get access to up-to-date information and approaches in this sphere. We will invite lecturers from the U.S., China, Russia and the EU to share the best practices. We hope that young specialists and heads of Kazakhstani enterprises will gain hands-on experience and knowledge that the Secretariat has accumulated over the period of its existence. The Eurasian Economic Union Treaty was signed in Astana on May 29. What are your expectations? We hope that the newly-formed Eurasian Economic Union will follow the example of the EU and will accede and sign the Energy Charter Treaty. The process of modernization of the Energy Charter that I've already mentioned simmers down to re-thinking of the 1991 Energy Charter Declaration. We have invited a lot of countries from all corners of the world to help us develop the new document. I am confident it will enable the newly-formed Eurasian Economic Union to sign the document in spring 2015.