12th SE Europe Energy Dialogue

SEE Energy Dialogue Background


The "SE Europe Energy Dialogue", IENE’s top international event, has been established over the years as a truly regional forum for discussion, analysis and networking. SEEED brings together high-ranking officials from governments and international organizations, senior business executives of major energy companies, as well as energy experts from the countries of S.E. Europe but also from oil and gas producing countries.

The SE Europe Energy Dialogue was first held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in June 2007 and has since been organized every year, serving as the region’s primary forum dedicated to facilitating an open and unbiased energy dialogue between all countries in the region and beyond.

The scope of the Energy Dialogue is on the one hand the exchange of information and ideas, and on the other the conduct of high- level discussions on the action required to tackle the pressing Climate and Energy Security related issues together with supply and security aspects facing the region. SE Europe Dialogue’s constant aspiration has been to contribute towards a much-needed regional debate on the region’s key energy issues but also act as a facilitator for much needed co-operation between suppliers and consumers and thus promote the role of SE Europe as an East-West and North-South energy bridge.

The themes which are normally discussed during the "Energy Dialogue" meetings include the following:

·Global and regional energy security

·The Climate Change agenda

·Energy supply and demand: current situation and outlook

·Update on major regional energy projects

·Integration and competition in the SE European Electricity and Gas Markets

·RES, alternative fuels, new technologies and the road to decarbonization

·Energy Efficiency, cogeneration and demand side management

·Energy business and investment climate in SE Europe

Delegates to the SEED come from all over SE Europe including: Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece but also from Austria, Italy, Israel and Cyprus and from further afield including the UK, France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Iran. In addition, senior staff from major international and European energy organizations have actively participated in IENE’s "Energy Dialogue" past meetings.

After 12 successful years the SEEED is now considered the seminal regional energy event that has managed to engage not only the region’s top policy-makers, financiers and entrepreneurs but also secure high-level participation from some of the world’s leading energy and banking institutions, including the International Energy Agency (IEA), the European Commission, the Energy Community Secretariat, the Energy Charter, World Energy Council (WEC), IRENA, Energy Fuel Europe, Eurelectric, Eurogas, EFET, COGEN, EBRD, EIB and the World Bank. The forum’s delegates and speakers over the past years have included senior executives from well known international corporations such as BP, Shell, Gazprom Export, Statoil, EDF, GDF Suez, ENI, ENEL, RWE, EON, Endesa, PPC, Serbgas, NIS, Plinacro, Transelectrica, Transgaz, KESH, AERS, RAE, Bulgarian Energy Holding, CEZ, Edison, DEPA, DESFA, Energean, Mytilineos Group, Hellenic Petroleum and many others.

Energy Dialogue Impact

During the course of the last 12 years, a period when ‘’Energy Dialogue’’ meetings were mostly held in Thessaloniki, but also in Belgrade (2017), a number of new ideas and initiatives were born relevant to the key energy issues under discussion. One such idea was the creation of a series of regional workshops and discussion groups organized by IENE in co-operation with local groups. The objective was to focus on a number of key areas and burning issues as such, and discuss them at country level by bringing together local actors and important regional players. In this context a number of such workshops and roundtables were organized in the different capitals in SE Europe. The themes discussed covered quite a diverse range of topics including policies, infrastructures and markets.

The following events took place: Energy and Development in Albania (Tirana 2008), Greek – Albanian Cooperation in the Energy Sector (Tirana 2009), The Nuclear Option for SE Europe (Sofia 2009), Greek - Bulgarian Cooperation in the Energy Sector (Sofia 2010), S.E. Europe Energy Outlook presentation with special reference to Albania, (Tirana 2011), the Opening up the West Balkans Energy Market (Belgrade 2012), Bulgaria’s Green Energy Challenge (Sofia 2012), the Energy Trilema, in association with WEC/RNC (Bucharest 2013), the Nuclear Option for SE Europe (Bucharest 2015), Cyprus Energy Symposia (2011-2019), Energy Policies and Strategies in SE Europe and the role of Albania (Tirana 2012), Roundtable Discussion on Albania’s hydroelectricity sector (Tirana 2013) high-level meeting on Energy and Geopolitics (Sofia, 2014), Opening up the West Balkan Energy Market (Zagreb 2014), Gas and Energy Security in SE Europe (Vienna 2015), Investing in the Hydroelectricity Sector in Albania (Tirana 2016), presentation of the SE Europe Energy Outlook 2016/17 (Bucharest 2017), presentation of the SE Europe Energy Outlook 2016/17 (Istanbul 2017), Electricity Market Integration and Transition in SE Europe in co-operation with Eurelectric (Brussels 2018), Energy Security and Energy Transition in SE Europe, in co-operation with the Energy Institute (London 2018), Vienna Energy Transition Forum (2019), Oil and Gas Exploration in the East Mediterranean, in association with the Energy Institute (London 2019), Energy Transition and Investment Challenges in SE Europe, in co-operation with ROEC (Bucharest 2019) and Gas Supply and Competition in SE Europe, in co-operation with Eurogas (Brussels 2020).

It is fair to say that the above series of conferences, seminars and workshops came as a direct outcome of SEEED’s, organization and the networking and working links that it helped establish across the region. In this sense its impact in influencing market sentiment has been considerable and has helped propel investment in the right direction. Overall, energy related investment has been steadily rising in the whole region over the last 10-12 years while the prospects, in spite of the present coronavirus induced setback, remain favorable in the long term.

In view of the tremendous progress achieved in the past decade in the various facets of energy policy and market operation in SE Europe, the ‘’Energy Dialogue’’ has emerged as an effective link for much closer and effective collaboration and understanding between the different energy players in the SEE area, thus facilitating regional energy market integration. A process which has lately acquired a new significance following the adoption in 2016 by the EU of the Energy Union which places particular emphasis on regional co-operation, energy grid connectivity and energy market integration. The very topics and priorities which the ‘’SE Europe Energy Dialogue’’ targeted right from its first gathering in Thessaloniki in June 2007.

SEE Energy Dialogue Conferences

The following is the complete list of past SEE Energy Dialogue events along with the special theme chosen for each occasion.

·1st S.E. Europe Energy Dialogue, June 27-28, 2007

In Search of a Common Framework

·2nd SE Europe Energy Dialogue, May 21-22, 2008

The Security of Energy Supply

·3rd SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 18-19, 2009

The Investment Outlook of the Energy Sector of SE Europe

·4th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 18-19, 2009

The Regional Integration of Electricity and Gas Markets

·5th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 2-3, 2011

Electricity and Gas Infrastructures Priorities in SE Europe

·6th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, May 30-31, 2012

Redefining SE Europe’s Energy Map

·7th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 19-20, 2013

The New Regional Parameters

·8th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 11-12, 2014

The New Energy Mix

·9th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 29-30, 2016

The Quest for a New Energy Balance

·10th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 2017, Belgrade

Connecting SE Europe’s Energy Markets

·11th SE Europe Energy Dialogue, June 2018, Thessaloniki

Energy Market Transition and Energy Security in SE Europe

The SEE Energy Outlook

Another interesting project which emerged from the interaction and cross fertilization of ideas following the ‘’Energy Dialogue’’ series was the compilation of a regional energy atlas. This led to the ‘’SE Europe Energy Outlook’’, first published in June 2011 followed by a fully revised and updated edition in 2017. The ‘’Energy Outlook for SE Europe’’ has since developed into a major reference study for the entire region bringing together a whole team of experts, from almost all countries of the region. In this sense the ‘’Energy Outlook’’ reflects a unique regional collaborative effort which could bear more fruits in the energy research and applications field over the coming years. The next edition, the ‘’ SE Energy Outlook 2021’’ is scheduled to be published in March/April 2021.


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