On 16 November 2015 the PRIO Cyprus Centre, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Cyprus and the Atlantic Council co-hosted a conference entitled ‘Global Energy Debates and the East Mediterranean’. The conference, held in the UN Buffer Zone in Nicosia, was organised with a view to introducing the Cypriot public to the increasingly complex global energy terrain. Thus, the main focus of the deliberations was not the Eastern Mediterranean but rather the broader energy picture surrounding the region.

The international experts who attended the conference presented topics that concern some of the more salient broader debates, such as the link between energy and global warming, as well as the energy relations of the European Union, which constitutes the largest potential market in the neighbourhood for the hydrocarbons of the Eastern Mediterranean. The latter included examination of three important cases to Europe’s east: Russia, Iran, and Turkey.

East Mediterranean energy developments and regional cooperation prospects were also discussed by a panel of experts from Cyprus, Egypt and Israel. This edited volume comprises contributions submitted by speakers based on their talks delivered at the conference.