Egypt’s energy diplomacy strengthens position abroad

Significance Beirut and its Western backers have turned to Cairo for assistance in mitigating Lebanon’s energy crisis. President Abdel Fattah el Sisi seeks to leverage Egypt’s strategic location, infrastructure and natural gas reserves for political and financial gain amid global gas shortages and soaring prices. Impacts Egypt aims to use gas as a way to show its importance but faces supply constraints. The EU and the United States reluctantly accept the Egyptian government as a better ally than the available alternatives. Egypt becoming an energy hub could play a small, but significant, role in helping Europe to reduce its chronic dependence on Russian gas.

CHINA'S ENERGY DIPLOMACY TOWARDS RUSSIA IN THE EASTERN SIBERIA PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT DURING PRESIDENT XI JINPING PERIOD

China is a very active country in building energy diplomacy relations towards Russia. Since the end of the Cold War, the intensity of energy relations between the two countries has been increasing, one of which is related to the Eastern Siberian pipeline project. The Eastern Siberian pipeline project is a strategic project for China to maintain the stability of their energy security in the future. This is what makes China under the leadership of Xi Jinping, increasingly seeking to improve their energy diplomacy relations towards Russia in an effort to develop the Eastern Siberian pipeline project which includes two major projects, specifically oil pipeline through the Eastern Siberian Pasific Ocean (ESPO) and the natural gas pipeline through the Power of Siberia. Using qualitative research methods and literature reviews, the authors sought to provide an in-depth analysis of China's implementation of energy diplomacy against Russia in the development of the Eastern Siberian pipeline. China's energy diplomacy towards Russia is part of efforts to diversify China's energy imports many involving actors of China's national energy companies. This research also proves that energy cooperation relationships are not only built within bilateral frameworks but also in multilateral frameworks as part of China-Russia efforts to accelerate the development of the Eastern Siberian pipeline.

The Role of Cities in Energy Diplomacy: Indonesia, Japan and the Surabaya-Kitakyushu Partnership

Summary Energy diplomacy is usually conducted by national governments. However, the case of sister city co-operation between the cities of Surabaya, Indonesia, and Kitakyushu, Japan, shows how substate actors can perform energy diplomacy by developing technology to create public spaces that apply energy efficiency and energy-saving principles. This article offers a new angle on energy diplomacy by elaborating on the role of the city government. To future-proof our perspective, we applied qualitative methods by gaining data from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, then triangulated the result from the literature about energy diplomacy. The article argues that energy diplomacy has expanded in the sense that it is now carried out at municipal as well as national level and yet still adheres to states’ foreign policy agendas in the energy sector. These substate actors ultimately strengthen the principle of energy utilisation that has been regulated at the national level within the framework of bilateral co-operation with other substate actors.

ENERGY DIPLOMACY IN THE QUADRANGLE OF ECONOMIC AND LEGAL RELATIONS

The research materials represent a theoretical reflection on the strategies of the leading actors of world politics for the development of the hydrogen economy and the transformation of global fuel and energy complex in the context of the tasks voiced at the Summit of Climate Leaders on April 22-23, 2021 (“reducing emissions during this critical decade”, “mobilizing public and private sector finances to ensure zero transition to a new clean energy economy”, “promoting transformational technologies of pure zero by 2050”). The article examines a numer of state strategies: 1) dialectical balance between the operational concepts of the methodical "matryoshka (triple) doll" (biosphere - human life - technosphere) in the European Green Deal, Alternative Energy and Hydrogen Economy projects; 2) achieving synergy of components in the quadrangle of economic and legal relations "Lex Mercatoria - Democratia Carboneum - Lex Petroleа - European Green Deal" when applying new technologies; 3) filling the national and international legal gap to ensure innovation in the field of energy at all stages (extraction, production, supply, transportation, transfer, storage of energy resources, design, construction, operation of energy facilities); 4) resource self-sufficiency and technological capabilities of using hydrogen, choosing the best option for the hydrogen value chain; 5) development of fuel and energy complexes of the European Union, the Republic of Korea, and Japan in terms of prospects for hydrogen energy and building a hydrogen economy based on a combination of national industrial traditions with innovative technologies. The article also deals with a set of institutional factors and legal norms for regulating the relationship between the subjects of national and global fuel and energy complexes in the context of the dynamics of demand for hydrogen and other types of fuel and energy resources in local and world markets. It gives the analysis of the effectiveness of government strategies to reduce dependence on imports of traditional types of energy sources and the development of "green" energy. The authors attempted to identify the priority tasks of energy diplomacy.

DEVELOPING UKRAINIAN HYDROGEN ENERGY: INTERNAL POLICIES AND ENERGY DIPLOMACY

The development of hydrogen energy is a crucial task for Ukrainian policymakers due to numerous security, economic and political reasons. Ukraine’s preparation for the development of the hydrogen economy is concentrated in three main dimensions: technical evaluation of possibilities for incorporation hydrogen to country’s energy mix; internal policy measures aimed at developing an effective legal regime for the emerging industry; international cooperation for finding needed financial resources for transferring knowledge and expertise from the foreign corporate players and state agencies. The uncertain character of the international environment and the possibility of inefficient internal governance are basic factors that need to be taken into account while elaborating the coherent Ukrainian hydrogen policy strategy.

Azerbaijan: From Small to Regional Power?

The article gives a general overview of the main factors influencing the formation of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy, as well as analyzes how these factors have changed since Azerbaijan’s independence until 2021. The conclusion is made that the existence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been a key factor in the formation of the political and economic system of the country, as well as the consciousness and perception of the world by its citizens. Since independence, Azerbaijan’s main objective has been to change the regional status quo, as well as to regain military and political control over Nagorno-Karabakh. In the theoretical part of the article, the author considers two categories of statehood: small and medium power. The established definition of small and medium power says that the main criteria of their difference lies in the size of the economy, the number of armed forces, as well as in the criterion of the “will” of the peoples to solve extraordinary foreign policy tasks. The author believes that the consolidation of the country’s available capabilities made it possible not only to achieve the goal of territorial integrity, but also to move Azerbaijan from the category of a small to a medium power. Azerbaijan deliberately moved to the rank of a medium power: through the development of regional ties and energy diplomacy, as well as through the isolation of Armenia. As a result, Azerbaijan’s seizure of seven districts and part of Nagorno-Karabakh, including Shusha, was a significant event that allowed the country to fundamentally change the unfavorable status quo that had prevailed for years.

How is China’s energy security affected by exogenous shocks? Evidence of China–US trade dispute and COVID-19 pandemic

The trade dispute between China and the United States (US) since 2018 and the global COVID-19 pandemic since 2020 has significantly impacted China’s economic development. As China’s energy sources heavily depend on imports, its economic viability is becoming more and more risky. This study proposes a novel conceptual framework, involving macroeconomic, industrial and geopolitical factors, to evaluate China’s energy security as a major player in the trade dispute. This study also provides a comprehensive strategy for policymakers to make better decisions on reforming renewable energy patterns to guarantee energy security and achieve geopolitical advantages. The PESTEL (political, economic, social, technical, environmental and legislative) and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analytical methods are applied to evaluate the factors and attributes of China’s energy development and energy security in the current background. The China-US bipartite game reciprocity model and the QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix) analysis are conducted to assess which energy security strategy and policy are more suitable to deal with China-US trade dispute. To enhance energy security, China should diversify its energy supply chain, develop new sources of energy supply, advance the shale gas technology, popularise cleaner power-generation plants, increase nuclear-energy safety, introduce energy-conservation measures, promote alternative-energy vehicles, engage in international energy diplomacy, and rebuild international energy transaction and settlement systems.

Energy policy of Qatar at the present stage: external and internal dimensions (on the example of gas sector)

The object of this research is the energy policy of Qatar on the example of gas sector. The subject of this research is the key directions and trends in the development of energy policy, i.e. its external and internal dimensions. Detailed analysis is conducted on the energy diplomacy of Qatar being a small state. The author determines the key areas for further use of gas export revenues for sustainable development of Qatar's national economy and its diversification. The article explores the peculiarities of Qatar’s energy diplomacy; its interaction with the European and Asian countries, the United States, as well as multinational energy corporations for the purpose of development of the own fuel and energy infrastructure. The scientific novelty lies in the attempt to generalize the key vectors of energy policy of modern Qatar, aligning them with the goals of economic development set in the strategic plan “Vision 2030”. This article is first to introduce sources in foreign languages into the scientific discourse. Leaning on these sources, the author reveals the “success factors” of Qatar's energy policy and growth potential, including in the conditions of “green transition”. The conclusion is made that Qatar would continue to invest in the development of gas sector, which is the major resource for qualitative assessment of the economic model. Such development implies open interaction with various external actors and the use of the latest technologies.

ENERGY DIPLOMACY OF SOUTH KOREA AND UZBEKISTAN

This research work tries to analyze energy diplomacy relations between two countries: South Korea and Uzbekistan where Republic of Korea’s diplomacy and business are closely linked with its energy interests. Then analyzing advantages for Uzbekistan as investment accepting state from South Korea. Moreover, there are social and cultural reasons play an important role in their relationship. However, there appears the interests of other actors like China and Russia toward Central Asian region. In this case research work to analyze and find how would be the position of South Korea in this region and does not interests intersect? There explains the way of solutions and advices for it.