U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. The two discussed the importance of reducing European dependence on Russian energy, as well as the strategic importance of Central Asian countries to the United States.
Watch the full exchange HERE.
Daines highlighted the need to reduce energy dependency on Russia:
Daines: Secretary Rubio, it’s great to see you here today. Very proud of what you’re doing in your role. Grateful to call you a friend and to watch what you’re doing now around the world with working on the President’s agenda. Secretary Rubio, I wanna talk about energy for a moment. Our allies in Europe are waking up to the security and economic threats posed by their reliance on Russian energy. Despite some progress, many of our European partners still are hesitant to diversify their energy portfolio, energy sources, and ensure they can literally keep the lights on. This recent nationwide power outage in Spain provided a timely reminder that intermittent sources of energy cannot replace reliable baseload power that comes from fossil fuels or other steady sources. So despite their acknowledgement of this threat, Europe is still making it very difficult for energy companies to do business on the continent. In fact, the European Commission promulgated regulations in the last year regarding ESG due diligence and methane emissions that will soon make it all but impossible due to these reporting requirements for major gas exporters to do business in Europe. Secretary Rubio, how can you work with our partners in Europe to build a more reasonable, broader, more diverse energy trade and regulatory framework that allows companies to deliver power that Europe so badly needs.
Rubio: …We can certainly, in our conversations with them, remind them of the vulnerability of their energy grid. ..I sense that among many of our allies in Europe, particularly those on the Eastern flank, there is a growing, and I would say not just awareness, but a growing fear of how vulnerable they are on energy, both to foreign actors and because of the strains that are gonna be placed by AI and other new technologies on our energy grid in the years to come.
Daines explained how an interconnector through the Central Asian countries would benefit the U.S.:
Daines: Secretary Rubio, I wanna shift gears for a moment and come back to a part of the world that doesn’t get a lot of attention, but is very strategically important, that’s Central Asia. Think about Central Asia, the five countries, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan. When they wake up in the morning, they look north, they see Russia, they look to the east, they see China, they look south to Afghanistan, they look south and west to Iran. There is great potential that I don’t believe is being utilized. An example of that is a lack of a trans-Caspian pipeline. You’ve got these five Central Asian countries, the Caspian Sea. 20 miles is all that’s needed right now for an interconnector to basically connect Turkmenistan into Azerbaijan and then into the pipeline certainly throughout Europe. It’s just 20 miles for that interconnector. Turkmenistan has the fifth largest reserve of natural gas in the world huge potential and obviously with their neighbors of China and Russia and Iran, getting that gas out is a challenge but there’s a path forward through the Caspian Sea. Mr. Secretary, do you believe that completing that 20 mile Caspian interconnector would be in the best interest the United States and our allies?
Rubio: I think the answer is yes.
Daines: Secretary, what’s fascinating is when you talk, engage countries– I was the first U .S. Senator to be in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in 13 years when I went over there last November… But they talk about multi-vector diplomacy over there because you’ve got the Russians and the Chinese who are actively engaged right now, and I think there’s a bit of a vacuum as it’s related as the United States, and we can help fill that vacuum because they want to work with us. They were thrilled with this election November. I spoke with every one of the Central Asian presidents. Each one of them, one-on-one meetings. They were very pleased to see the outcome in November and now they’re ready to move forward here with a close relationship with the United States and I think Azerbaijan and that interconnector could be as they say, that is the cork on the wine bottle of Central Asia that could actually release some of this energy and move it towards allies and friends of the United States instead of being dependent on Russia and China. By the way, they’ve been a very valuable ally in the global war on terror, as well as a counterterrorism mission here as well. I would just throw out in terms of your radar, because you’ve got a lot on your plate right now, Mr. Secretary, but I think we could encourage and modernize our trade relations in that part of the world where there’s frankly a lot of great power competition going on. But anyway, Secretary, it’s good to see you up here.
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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Gabby Wiggins