Over 45 Presidents, Foreign Minister and Energy Ministers from 30 countries will come together on 13 July in Ceyhan, Turkey, for the grand launch of BP’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. Campaigners who have monitored the BTC project have issued a press release charging BP and participating international financial institutions (IFIs) with failing affected communities and the local environment.
In the run-up to the G8 Summit in Saint-Petersburg this weekend, the BTC opening ceremony is an unfortunate reminder that most countries and international institutions are actively subsidizing rather than fighting climate change. In building the project BP benefited from more than a billion dollars in public subsidies from G8 countries and international institutions.
According to the pictures available on the Net, there were only 3 presidents – of the 3 states through which runs the pipe – who attended the ceremony
Apart from the environmental issues, the main point is that BTC is an “Occidental achievement” in the new COLD WAR
As long as this cold war keeps developing, the environmental issues wil be neglected.
Good point COMAGUER, the pipeline ultimately boils down to geopolitics, there is no doubt about it, and the list of people attending the opening ceremony illustrates that well.
“Trend”, citing the Turkish media, reported a list of folks scheduled to participate in the official opening ceremony. The list might have ended up being over-exagerated in the end, since some may have dropped out, but the names generally speak for themselves. It included: the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Georgia, the U.S. Assistance Energy Secretary J.C. Shell, the US Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Steven Mann, the second US Assistance Energy Secretary Karen Alderman Harbert, and an official of the U.S. Department of State Daniel Sullivan will be in attendance.
The list of scheduled participants also included the British Assistant PM, John Prescott, Foreign Minister Christine Lagarde, the Prime Minister of Turkish Republic of the Northern Cyprus, Ferdi Sabit Soer, the Foreign Minister of Northern Cyprus, Serdar Denktash, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Serbian Energy Minister Radomir Naumov, the Serbian Minister for Oil, Gas, Mining and Energy, Slobodan Sokolovich, the Albanian Minister for Trade and Energy, Gench Ruli, the Saudi Minister Ali Al-Naimi, the Greece Minister for Development, Dimitris Siufas, the Yemeni Minister for Oil and Mining, Khalid Mahfoudh Bahah, the Israeli Minister for National Infrastructure Benjamin Ben Elizer, a representative of The International Energy Forum, Arne Walther, the Estonian Minister, Urmis Paet, the Jordanian Energy Minister, Azmi Mohd Mustafa, a European Commission commissar on energy issues, Andris Piebalgs, the Secretary General of the energy Charter, Andre Marner, the Morocco Minister for Energy and Mining, Muhammad Boetaleb, the Syrian Minister for Oil and Mining, Sufian Al-Alao, the Italian Minister for Economic Development, Pierr Louggi Bersani, the Nigerian State Minister, Ahmed Abdulkhamid, the Polish Minister for Economy, Piotr Grzegorz Wozniak, the Georgian Foreign Minister, Gela Bezhuashvili, the Georgian Minister for Energy, Nika Gilauri, the Latvian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis, the Omani Oil and Gas Minister, Muhammad bin Khamad al Rohmi, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Daniyar Usenov, the Sudan Minister for Energy and Mining, Avad Ahmed Jazz, the Moldova Minister for Industry and Infrastructure, Vladimir Antosin, the Austrian Federal Minister for Economy and Labor, Martin Bartenstain, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, the Azerbaijani Minister for Industry and Energy, Natik Aliyev, the Azerbaijani Finances Minister, Samir Sharifov, Adviser to the Azerbaijani President on Energy Issues, Ali Asadov, First assistant to the Czech Foreign Minister, Yaroslav Bast, the Kazakh Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources, Bakhtikozh Izmuhametov, the Pakistani Minister for Natural Energy and Natural Resources, Amanuallah Khan and Jadun.