Energy remains high on the agenda. The Russian participants in the recent conference on energy effectiveness emphasized that they considered it to be the continuation of dialogue on sustainable development and global energy security. This is not an easy subject for Russia. The energy intensity of its economy is much higher than in the United States (twice), Europe and Japan (thrice). For this reason, Moscow should demonstrate to its partners its ability to steadily and effectively reduce the gap. Moreover, this problem is linked with major challenges of the German G8 presidency - prevention of climate change and protection of the environment - on which Moscow has occupied a proactive position.
Another problem is that Russia has again been accused of using energy as a political weapon. Moscow does not accept this accusation and even tends to ignore it. Here, every side has its own truth. The consumers want to depend less on the suppliers, and the latter want to make the most of their market advantages. During this year, the positions of G8 countries have clashed more than once. They have different views on the energy transit conflict between Moscow and Minsk. Russia has said a final "no" to the European Union on the Energy Charter, and President Putin agreed with his Turkmen, Kazakh and Uzbek counterparts to build a Caspian gas pipeline through Russian territory in response to the EU strategy of diversifying energy supplies.
These actions will determine the practical interests with which the eight leading industrialized countries will come to the summit. But a G8 summit is not an arena of confrontation. Its participants pursue the opposite goal - to evaluate global trends and risks, and to map out a common strategy. For this reason, the key words here are interdependence, transparency and partnership. This is of major importance for Russia, which is tired of defending itself. At the G8 summit, it is not a rival but a member of the committee dealing with the future. Appeals to return to the G7 format testify to global irresponsibility. Everyone understands that this is impossible.
Russia is playing a major role not only in energy supplies, but also in G8 efforts to ensure environmental protection, climate control, sustainable development, security and stability. This suggests a serious question - is the G8 format adequate now that on a par with Russia other big and dynamic countries have the right to take part in the resolution of global issues. This primarily applies to China, a member of the UN Security Council, India and Brazil. Germany believes that an expansion of the club would be bad for it and the rest of the world.
Russia is not so categorical because it understands potential claimants. However, on the whole Moscow agrees with Germany and the other members. After all, it was very difficult even for Russia to join the group and some people still see it as more of a political gesture than a practical imperative. But rejection of other key players is also risky because G8 effectiveness depends not so much on its decisions as on their support by the world community.
On the whole, the new formula is G8+ and it suits everyone. It allows other interested countries to take part in G8 efforts. Their participation is not limited to meetings before summits. This time, for instance, the growing economies - India and Mexico, and several African nations - have been invited to Heiligendamm.
Assistance to Africa's development is a declared priority of the German presidency. In Heiligendamm, the G8 countries will discuss this problem, including the fight against AIDS, for the third time. All participants in the summit support the efforts to this end. Recently, Russia has considerably increased its aid and credits to Africa, where long-term strategy of development should be combined with immediate aid. The African Union's peacemaking mission in Darfur was on the verge of collapse recently because the European fund of its support ran out of money.
Lack of financial contributions to the implementation of G8 decisions is not a problem for Africa alone. The G8 cannot pay for the whole world. Is there a way to make its programs feasible? Brazil reduced the cutting down of forests and sustained tangible financial losses, for which it was never reimbursed. Will other countries follow suit? All G8 members agree that it is necessary to create incentives. Russia has suggested establishing special funds, for example a fund of environmental technologies that will be paid with shared money and made accessible to all countries.
Moscow does not favor tough regulation of G8 commitments. In this sense, it is closer to the United States and China than to the EU. Russia believes that for many countries voluntary commitments are better than accession to the treaties in which they are afraid to take part. In this context, the forthcoming summit will consider what steps could be taken after the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
The G8 leaders will discuss in detail the world's conflicts. The G8 foreign ministers will hold preliminary debates in Potsdam on May 30 about the situation in Iran, Kosovo, Darfur, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Moscow will take an active part in these discussions. For it, Kosovo is a very sensitive subject. In the near future it will be necessary to harmonize a new UN resolution but Russia and the West have different views on this problem and a number of other issues.
There are differences between other countries as well. The forthcoming summit will also concentrate in a whole package of disputable security issues. These include the U.S. plans to deploy components of a national anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and Russia's decision to suspend its participation in the treaty on conventional forces in Europe until it is ratified by all other member countries.
But the real problem is much bigger - the vector of cooperation reinforced after 9/11 is being increasingly weakened by unilateral actions that breed mutual mistrust and even deterrence. The G8 summit is a good opportunity for considering this problem as a global challenge and agreeing on a common response. The G8 club is an institution that will not be able to function if the logic of a zero-sum game is back.
Dmitry Danilov is the head of the European Security Department at the Instituite of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
