The Study On EU’s Energy Diplomacy In Central Asia

Energy diplomacy and cooperation has always been a major international issue.The energy diplomacy between EU and Central Asian countries is the typical one.As one of the five power centers in the world,the EU enjoys a high position in the global energy market and is the third largest energy consumer in the world.However,the EU mainly imports energy from Russia,so the EU often relies on others,so the EU actively seeks diversification of energy import,so the EU actively seeks to diversify its energy import.The Central Asia-Caspian Sea region is rich in energy and is known as the "second Persian Gulf" by the industry.Since independence,Central Asian countries have pursued a pluralistic foreign policy,and energy cooperation is a strong support for this policy.Therefore,the EU and Central Asian countries are willing to establish and strengthen energy cooperation with each other.Over the past 30 years,the EU has continuously issued the Central Asia strategy to update and strengthen the medium and long-term planning for institutional development in various fields,which includes the energy sector.It has made great achievements in the relevant cooperation system,gradually gaining the trust of Central Asian countries,and the energy cooperation relationship is also very stable.Under the guidance and support of the European Union,EU countries and Central Asian countries cooperate closely in energy exploration,mining,processing,transportation and other aspects,in which can even operate in joint ventures with state-owned energy companies in Central Asian countries and makes a lot of profits.However,problems such as incomplete infrastructure and imperfect cooperation system have also been exposed in the process of EU’s energy diplomacy and cooperation with Central Asia.Behind the problems,there are deep-seated reasons,such as the institutional problems in the internal affairs and hardware problem of the European Union and Central Asian countries,the strong influence of China,Russia and the United States.This paper mainly takes the energy diplomacy of EU and Central Asian countries as the research object,explores the importance of energy diplomacy to the EU and Central Asian countries,as well as their respective main policies and measures,and explores various problems faced by EU Central Asia energy diplomacy,and makes prospects for them.Firstly,with using text analysis,by combing the strategic background of EU’s energy diplomacy to Central Asian countries,including the situation of EU’s energy security,energy reserves and energy industry in Central Asia,this paper preliminarily concludes the significance of Central Asia to EU’s energy security.Next,from the perspective of geographical conditions,system construction,economic and trade cooperation,supply and demand management,infrastructure construction,this paper expounds the EU’s energy diplomacy strategy for Central Asia-developing construction of both hard and soft power,and analyzes the basis-relatively stable energy economic cooperation,certain infrastructure and stable cooperation institutional framework,relatively good political mutual trust and broad common interests-of EU’s energy diplomacy for Central Asia by means of inductive analysis.Thirdly,by means of text analysis and case analysis,starting from the policy documents and major policies issued by the EU,as well as its energy diplomacy events with Central Asian countries at all levels,this paper describes the evolution of the EU’s energy diplomacy with Central Asian countries,and analyzes the key points-promoting the development of sustainable energy,optimizing infrastructure and promoting energy transport efficiency,connect the Central Asian energy market-of the EU’s energy diplomacy with Central Asian countries by combing them.Finally,based on the current situation of EU’s energy diplomacy to Central Asian countries in recent years,this paper explores the main problems of EU’s energy diplomacy to Central Asian countries from the perspectives of world energy market,technical factors,internal problems between EU and Central Asian countries,and external geographical factors,and makes prospects for them.