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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

America’s new energy frontier runs through baroque Balkans. New Delhi must know why

IMEC projects plugging into the 3SI is a matter of when, not if. This makes US engagement in the Western Balkans significant for New Delhi.

As the Iran War drifts through an uneasy interregnum with intermittent strikes and a weaponised Hormuz, an undeniable reset is seen on the global energy map. America’s status as an energy exporting power house is redrawing that map—often in places one could least expect.

That’s where the UNESCO World Heritage city of Dubrovnik—the “Pearl of the Adriatic”, globally romanticised as a filming location for Game of Thrones—comes in. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright was there recently, and media attention followed. Against the backdrop of Renaissance-era walls and Baroque facades, Wright spoke of the strategic arc stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic and onward to the Black Sea—and its relevance for the US energy export infrastructure.

Wright was speaking at the Three Seas Initiative (3SI), a framework of connectivity and infrastructure projects spanning the 13 European countries bordering the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black sea regions—aka the three seas. As a policy framework, it has existed within European discourse since its launch in 2015, but has rarely garnered wider international attention, at least until now. During his visit, Wright made a political point as much as an economic one. The US has recently poured billions into key LNG projects in select countries that receive EU aid for future membership. This contrasts the rigid regulatory outlook of Western Europe with what Washington is promoting as a more agile, opportunity-driven approach in Central and Southeastern Europe. Unsurprisingly, it was an uncomfortable message for the European establishment in Brussels.

What is the US pivot to Western Balkans about?

The region today sits uniquely at the intersection of the EU and American interests, Russian and Chinese influence (albeit in differing degrees), expanding Turkish presence, and a hunger for more investment. Weak institutions, vulnerable........

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