A Eurasian Energy Union aimed at easing tensions around energy resources in the region could soon established after a meeting in Istanbul between senior representative of the International Association for Energy Economics Union (IAEE) and Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and natural gas company SOCAR. The new body would coordinate the activities and represent the interests of 18 Eurasian countries and would be headquartered in Turkey’s commercial capital, IAEE Chairman Gürkan Kumbaroglu said this week. The catalyst for a permanent organisation with this remit, he explained, was the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Project (TANAP) which had strengthened ties between the countries in the region, many of which have a history of strained relationships. “Under this union, we hope to unite Russia, Ukraine, Kosovo and Serbia, which had clashed about energy in the past,” he said. The countries he hopes to bring in under the umbrella of the new body are Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Kazakhstan, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Slovenia. News.AZ Daily Sabah