Seminar
The EU and Russia's Energy Interdependence: A Risk or a Chance for Latvia?
26 February, 2007
Riga, Latvia
In the last years, the energy issues have dominated the EU-Russia relationship. In theory, the gains to be had from a successful cooperation are obvious. In reality, however, the EU-Russia energy relationship poses several difficult questions of both economic and political nature.
Those questions concern not only the principles upon which the future EU-Russian energy cooperation should be based in the future. It is also important to evaluate the positions and the situation of each party. On the one hand, the perspectives of a common EU strategy in its relations with Russia deserve a critical assessment. On the other hand, there is need for a better understanding of the role energy plays in Russia's foreign and domestic policy as well as the economy. These questions are of special importance for Latvia which, while being a small EU member state, has close energy ties with Russia.
As a contribution to a public debate on these issues, on 26 February 2007 the Baltic Forum was organized the international seminar The EU and Russia's Energy Interdependence: A Risk or a Chance for Latvia? The seminar was a chance for Latvian experts, business representatives and government officials together with internationally acclaimed experts to discuss the economic and political aspects of the issue. The working languages of the conference was English, Latvian and Russian. Simultaneous translation was provided during the sessions.
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