Valdai Discussion Club working group on the future of the Russian -U.S. relations

© Mikhail Fomichev

Building on the previous meeting in Moscow participants in the two-day event discussed the paper on the prospects of the US – Russia interaction in the Post-Soviet space, drafted by Samuel Charap, Director for Russia and Eurasia and fellow of the National Security and International Policy Program at the Center for American Progress, and Mikhail Troitsky, Professor of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy at MGIMO-University of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The paper will be released after further editing as the first joint paper of the Working Group drafted by Russian and American scholars.


The main focus of the session was on the challenges and opportunities for the bilateral relations, which arise from the interaction in the field of energy. Among those discussed were the volatility on the global energy markets, understanding of the notion of energy security, as well as expanding agenda for cooperation in the sphere of peaceful nuclear energy. Speaking on the issues were Russian energy experts – Tatiana Mitrova, Head of Russia and worldwide oil and gas development Department at the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Marsel Salikhov, Head of the Economic Department at the Institute for Energy and Finance. The US vision of developments in the field of energy was presented by Glen Sweetnam, Director of the International, Economic, and Greenhouse Gases Division of the Energy Information Administration, Henry Lee, Director of the Environment & Natural Resources Program at Harvard’s John F.Kennedy School of Government, Rawi Abdelal, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and John Deutch, an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


The discussions have laid the foundation for a joint research in the energy field, which will produce another in the series of publications by the Working Group.


The Working Group on the Future of the Russian-U.S. relations of the International Valdai Discussion Club began its work in May 2010. The conference was organized by the Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti, Russia’s Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and the National Research University- Higher School of Economics.

PROGRAM

Thursday, May 12: Updates, Wrapup on Post-Soviet Eurasia topic, Introduction to Energy topic

12:00 – 1:00 pm
Informal lunch


1:00 – 3:00 pm
“Normalizing U.S.-Russia Relations in Post-Soviet Eurasia”


Discussion of paper by Samuel Charap & Mikhail Troitskiy


3:00 – 3:15 pm


Coffee Break


3:15 – 5:00 pm


“Global Energy: The Big Picture”


Leadoff presentations by Henry Lee, Director, Environment & Natural Resources Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and


5:00 – 6:15 pm


Discussion of latest events: Libya, Japan, Mr.Y’s National Strategic Narrative, bin Laden


6:30 – 7:15 pm


Cocktails in North Dining Room, Harvard Faculty Club


7:15 – 10:00 pm


“’Bribing the Soviets Out’: The Legacy of U.S. Foreign Policy at the End of the Cold War for International Relations Today”


Dinner with Mary Sarotte, Professor of History and of International Relations, University of Southern California; author of 1989: The Struggle to Create a Post-Cold War Europe

Friday, May 13: Global Energy Markets & Energy Security

8:30 – 9:00 am
Coffee and Pastries

9:00 – 10:30 am
“Global Energy Trends and Global Security”

Briefing & discussion with John Deutch, Institute Professor, MIT; US Deputy Secretary of Defense (1994-95); Director of Central Intelligence (1995-1996)

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

“Pipelines and Energy in Eurasia”

Discussion with Rawi Abdelal, a Russian participant & Charles Ryan, Chairman, UFG Asset Management

12:00 – 1:30 pm

“The Obama Administration Energy Policy Agenda and Russia”

Lunch with Glen Sweetnam, Director, International Economic & Greenhouse Gas Division, Energy Information Administration (EIA);  April 2010 – May 2011, senior director for energy, U.S. National Security Council

2:00 – 5:30 pm

Working Group discussion (Russian and American participants)

5:30 – 6:15 pm

Project design, 2011-2013

6:30 – 7:15 pm

Cocktails in Library, Harvard Faculty Club

7:15 – 10:00 pm

Dinner in Library, Harvard Faculty Club

PARTICIPATING MEMBERS OF THE WORKING GROUP

Rawi Abdelal, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Faculty Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University;  Executive Committee Member, Davis Center, Harvard University

Pavel Andreev, Head of International Projects, RIA Novosti

Oleg Barabanov, Head, Department of EU Politics, European Studies Institute at MGIMO University; Professor, School of World Economics and Politics, National Research University—Higher School of Economics

Timofei Bordachev, Deputy-Dean, School of World Economy and International Affairs; Director, Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University—Higher School of Economics; Director of Studies, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy

Samuel Charap, Director, Russia and Eurasia and member, National Security and International Policy team, Center for American Progress

Timothy Colton, Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies, Harvard University; Chair of the Department of Government, Harvard University

Keith Darden, Associate Professor of Political Science, Yale University

Alexey Fenenko, Leading Research Fellow, PhD, Institute of International Security Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Henry Hale, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director, Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, The Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University

Yoshiko Herrera, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Sergei Karaganov, Dean of the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs of the National Research University — Higher School of Economics; Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy

Jeffrey Mankoff, Associate Director of International Security Studies, Yale University

Tatiana Mitrova, Head of Oil and Gas Development Russia and Worldwide, Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Matthew Rojansky, Deputy Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment

Marsel Salikhov, Head of economic research, Institute for Energy and Finance

Randall Stone, Professor of Political Science, Director of the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies and of the Peter D. Watson Center for Conflict and Cooperation, University of Rochester

Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director and Research Fellow, Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University—Higher School of Economics, Moscow; Deputy Director of Research Programs, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy

Monica Toft, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School; Executive Committee Member, Davis Center, Harvard University

Mikhail Troitskiy, Adjunct Professor, MGIMO University

Alexandra Vacroux, Executive Director, Davis Center, Harvard University

Cory Welt, Associate Director and Professorial Lecturer in International Affairs Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University

GUESTS

John Cogan, Former Chairman and Managing Partner, Hale and Dorr

John Deutch, Institute Professor, MIT; US Deputy Secretary of Defense (1994-95); Director of Central Intelligence (1995-1996)

Marshall Goldman, Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Russian Economics (Emeritus), Wellesley College; Senior Scholar, Davis Center, Harvard University

Katherine Hardin, Senior Director and Head, Russian and Caspian Energy, IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA); Term Member, Council on Foreign Relations

Henry Lee, Director, Environment & Natural Resources Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Terry Martin, George F. Baker III Professor of Russian Studies and Director, Davis Center, Harvard University

Michael O'Flynn, Managing Director, UFG Asset Management

Charles Ryan, Chairman, UFG Asset Management

Mary Sarotte, Visiting Scholar, Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California

Glen Sweetnam, Director, International Economic & Greenhouse Gas Division, Energy Information Administration (EIA); April 2010 – May 2011, senior director for energy, U.S. National Security Council