EAG Co-sponsors Regional Energy Security Symposiums in Tbilisi, Georgia and Baku, Azerbaijan
The Energy Academic Group co-sponsored two Regional Energy Security Symposium Caucasus events this year. The first was held in Tbilisi, Georgia from 15–19 April 2019 and was hosted by the Levan Mikeladze Diplomatic and Research Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. The second event was an advanced program held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 1–5 July 2019, which was hosted by the government’s diplomatic academy, ADA University as well as oil executives from British Petroleum (BP) and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR); both companies are key stakeholders in the region’s critical energy infrastructure, and were therefore key participants in the discussion. Participants included government and industry representatives from Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Lecturers included academia, government officials, as well as oil executives from BP and SOCAR.
The objective of the symposiums was to further energy security and resiliency through increased awareness, information sharing, interagency collaboration, and regional cooperation. Both weeklong events included several topics such as energy security, geopolitics, threats to energy infrastructure, and critical infrastructure protection and resilience. Breakout groups were formed for each event in order to allow energy security stakeholders to focus detailed discussions on energy crises such as cyberattacks, terrorism, and hybrid warfare. The advanced program provided information regarding energy research, as well as robust sessions on cyber security and critical energy infrastructure protection. Most of the participants for the advanced program attended either the Tbilisi event in April or participated in the July 2018 symposium in Baku.
NPS faculty from the Energy Academic Group and the Center for Infrastructure Defense provided briefings on energy security, critical energy infrastructure protection and resilience, threats to energy infrastructure, and cases studies, as well as facilitated daily breakout groups.
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Email Lawrence Walzer at lmwalzer1@nps.edu or call 831-656-3777.
