EURussiaCentreEU-Russia Centre

The former Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and current member of the LUKOIL oil company Board of Directors, Igor Ivanov spoke at an event entitled “Russia and Europe, Strategic Partnership and energy dialogue” – 25 November 2009

On 25th November, the former Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and current member of the LUKOIL oil company Board of Directors, Igor Ivanov spoke at an event entitled “Russia and Europe, Strategic Partnership and energy dialogue” that was organised by the European Policy Centre in Brussels.

Mr. Ivanov believed many of the hopes and dreams that had emerged after the fall of the Berlin wall had never been fulfilled. Mr. Ivanov felt that Russia did not see Europe as a military threat and nor did Europe see Russia as such. At the same time the two “see each other as neighbours, but not as partners”. He said Russia and Europe were unable to see common interests, and therefore it was difficult to achieve constructive dialogue. Examples were the Charter of European Security from 1999 and the Russia-NATO Council. He felt that these declarations had failed, recently with respect to the Georgian war.

Now was the time to act. EU and Russia had many common interests, fighting terrorism, tackling climate change, etc. Russia saw partnership as a long-term relationship based on trust and transparency and Mr. Ivanov was optimistic about the possibility for such a relationship to develop. He commented positively on the President Medvedev’s suggested new architecture of European security. He encouraged “a serious dialogue of equals” based on the following approach:

1) identify basic common security threats,
2) review the security structures and organisations that the EU and Russia have,
3) compare what was needed with what was already in place,
4) examine how to cooperate better,
5) enter into legally binding agreements.
And, finally, 6) have respect for each other.

The EU and Russia needed to take a fresh look at their relationship. Mr. Ivanov stated that 60% of all Russian exports went to the EU, and 40% of all imports to Russia came from the EU.

He believed that the EU and Russia should build their future energy relationship on reliability, predictability, stability, and transparency. There was a need for a better investment climate and more balance in investments: currently, Russia had USD 55-58 billion of foreign investments in its energy sector, while EU had just USD 7 billion of Russian investment. LUKOIL was a good example of Russian investments abroad. Mr. Ivanov placed emphasis on a barrier-free European common space, and stated that, “Russia and EU’s places in the future depend on their contributions to the development of their relationship today”.