Out on the oil and gas bonanza. Perus economy has tanked millions of lost their jobs as the government tries to stop the spread of the coronavirus people are desperately trying to make ends meet. At a tempting to a changing economy why a University Degree may no longer be the key to success for many americans. Turkey claims to have found a big store of natural gas in the black sea if it proves to be commercially viable it could be a huge relief for a nation thats dependent upon oil and gas imports but its turkeys exploration in the hotly contested east mediterranean thats raising tension with its neighbors turkey has dispatched a drilling ship flanked by naval vessels to an area off the southwestern coast of cyprus al jazeera as alex go topless takes a closer look at a regional dispute. In february 2018 and Italian Oil Company found something in the Eastern Mediterranean a huge gas field right off the coast of cyprus this field was part of the regions vast gas deposits estimated to be as big as 3 and a half trillion cubic meters thats enough potential energy to power the United States for nearly a decade tension is mounting in the Eastern Mediterranean over these discoveries as countries vying for control in an area rich with unclaimed resources the potential for military action is rising as neighbors forge new alliances and old wounds flare up in the regional scramble to secure Energy Rights for the coming century and beyond its no surprise to everyone in the region wants as big a piece of the pie as they can get for the most part theyve all claimed their shares egypt has started to exploit its oil and gas reserves and is now a regional exporter europe has long been wanting to cut its reliance on russian gas and the Energy Hungry trading block would be an ideal market for Eastern Mediterranean natural gas so whats the Sticking Point the main cause of friction here is cyprus and the overlapping and competing claims different groups of made over it since a bloody conflict took place in 1974 the islanders remain divided between greek and Turkish Cypriots the southern half the majority greek republic of cyprus is recognized by the United Nations the turkish republic of Northern Cyprus is not internationally recognized but its autonomy is nonetheless guaranteed by turkey. Relations have got so bad between the fractious neighbors the both sides of threatens military action to defend what they say are their territorial rights over the sea normally these territorial rights are defined by the Uns Convention of the law of the sea this document allocates up to 12 nautical miles from any nation sure as this territorial waters and up to 200 nautical miles as it is easy or exclusive Economic Zone as the name suggests anything found in or under the ocean out to this distance is its own exclusively but only greece the republic of cyprus a most of the worlds nations turkey did not sign that Un Convention instead it has its own way of deciding limits so ve said. Turkey uses the Continental Shelf theory which says that a countrys land mass and therefore the ease it extends underwater to the very edge of the Continental Shelf using this theory they refused to accept the islands can have these they say any islands influence is only as far as 12 nautical miles these 2 calculation methods have triggered a cascade of claim and counterclaim early last year the Energy Ministers of cyprus greece egypt jordan israel and palestine all met in cairo to discuss cooperation in the setting up of the east med gas forum turkey was pointedly not invited cyprus so. Its taken steps in order to. Really make its exclusive Economic Zones its planning in the future when it will be feasible to export its gas through a pipeline pipeline that a trance or israeli. Guys. Grace and European Union markets. Its up for the contest that project is very expensive project it to me. Yes so undersea pipelining the word almost a 1000 kilometers is our highly symbolic act whether the pipeline would happen or not it shows that it is an agreement it shows that it is just strong cooperation between cyprus egypt and israel in the area turkey is feeling diplomatically isolated a left out of this emerging system of cooperation with a rapidly growing population and a reliance on imports for 90 percent of its natural gas turkey is desperate to secure its own regional supplies are refusing to acknowledge cyprus is easier said turkey does also not accept the bilateral deals cyprus has made with greece lebannon egypt and israel instead turkey has made its own deals with his large armed forces turkey is now involved not just in Northern Syria but also in the rapidly expanding war in libya in November Turkey and un recognized government of National Court of libya signed a bilateral maritime deal the carved up a large portion of the Eastern Mediterranean between them using their Continental Shelf method they allocated themselves blocks for drilling and Gas Exploration but several of these blocks were just off the greek islands of crete and cope with us this immediately invoked heavy condemnation from greece and the International Community as not only illegal but a major destabilizing move turkeys go it alone attitude is upsetting its neighbors last december it sent armed drones to mind over exploration ships in contested waters. In may a french Aircraft Carrier conducted drills off the coast of the island where france felt turkey had encroached on an area french Oil Companies were themselves exploring in a clear message to anchor the United States announced in july that it would start training the cypriot military with so much at stake and so much wealth and security to be had the region stands to greatly benefit if everyones interests are satisfied the cypriot republic has already requested a ruling from the interNational Court of justice in the hague on its and turkeys overlapping claims and both parties have much to gain from cooperation however as it stands a single incident could unravel this tense and fragile peace triggering a cascade of events that could easily draw the region into a devastating war but could this rush for gas turn out to be a costly mirages or oil and Gas Companies put off drilling due to the coronavirus and nations turn towards renewables joining me now from budapest is thomas cosmos thomas heads the asian and African Relations Department of the put a pest based think tank antonius of Knowledge Center towers good to have you with us so trillions of dollars worth of oil and gas its a big prize for all nations in the Eastern Mediterranean but with the current economic climate and big oils desire to cut back on drilling is this just a pipe dream for a nation i would say hopes used to be very high and now they are fading away to some extent we have to see that pandemic has slowed down the economy the Global Economy oil and gas prices are low moreover there is a glutton the Global Market and Major Energy Companies such as united were total for example in oust that they are postponing their Gas Exploration operations in the region until 2021 it least snow day apply the wait and see approach if we can characterize the past 10 years. As that the gate of great natural gas hyping the. We stand ready to raney and then 2020 is definitely a breaking point and it is a question what comes afterwards. I would say that the present outlook is definitely less promising than it was a couple of years ago and previous expectations we would regard to gas projects in the region might easily fall short thats because as well one well in lebanons patches come up dry this is a huge risk for countries in the region is not yes well we have to see that in the past decade hundreds of 1000000000 cubic meters of natural gas reserves have been discovered in the waters of cyprus egypt and israel these are very Significant Holdings that will be available for a long time. It is a question if i do a really thorough states can join them on the way to become more relevant Gas Producers so after lengthy delays and full of hopes. Around february march this year. It was widely broadcast it started these offshore drilling for oil and gas but within a relatively short period of time they got to very disappointing results for many years turkey has also been seeking for offshore gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean but has remained without major discoveries d the situation is deaf or very competitive and it is not only about economic benefits but also about geopolitics and the regional balance of power in cyprus isaf the interNational Court of justice for a ruling on overlapping claims with turkey who do you think is going to win well in general it can be said that proceedings at the interNational Court of justice might take many years but in this case this is not the most crucial factor that we need to consider instead that it should be highlighted that turkey does not recognize the republic of cyprus we trace the start of questions according to the us that uta of the interNational Court of justice only states may appear or apply before the court if turkey would give its consent to take part. In the proceeding which the republic of cyprus initiated in december last year it would mean that turkey implicitly a recognized the republic of cyprus and this would be of course contradicting with turkeys position therefore i can hardly imagine that turkey would give its consent to be a party to these proceeding and what about the pipeline that is planned to Service Israel and cyprus the gore court theyve got to find willing buyers of course and by the time they have europes switch to renewables might make it not worth doing anyway yes this is the socalled east met pipeline project which is aimed at transporting 10000000000 cubic meters of natural gas per year to european markets from european perspective it is another project that could top european economies to diversify their guess up lies and to shift of a from russian gas and from the perspective of the signatory parties it is an attempt to cumulate their powers not only in terms of Energy Policy but also in the whole geopolitical rivalry in the Eastern Mediterranean we have to see that the economic and commercial liability of this project is seriously debated says it is rather a geo politically driven initiative on the other hand we have to see that there is a shrinking support for force if you have projects in your in the European Union especially in the light of the European Green deal that is a key European Initiative to reach Carbon Neutrality by 2050 we have to also add that by 2030 the European Union aims to increase their share of renewables to 32 percent in its final Energy Consumption and of course the strategy course can easily undermine future gas Pipeline Projects finally thomas very little is known about turkeys black sea find how much of a game changer is that going to be for turkey well this is definitely a historic discovery from turkeys point of view since we are talking about 320000000000 cubic meter. Yours which is a significant result can see there in that tricky has been almost fully dependent on gas imports once guess will be produced that these fields it can be a source of the transformation of turkeys guest supply structure and we did have both discussed turkey will be able to reduce its reliance on foreign gas what is very important we drink arties gas discovery is a defect that it came at a very good time from turkish perspective because in the upcoming years some of turkeys long term gas contracts will expire including a contract with russias gas from for instance until last year russia was the key source of gas for 3 so now turkey will probably be able to use its new discoveries as a bargaining chip to reach more favorable contract terms when it will be of negotiating its gas contracts for a suppliers thomas has been really good to talk to and counting across many thanks indeed for being with us thank you thank you it is my pleasure. Perus economy has shrunk by more than 30 percent as a result of the covert 19 pandemic millions of lost the jobs the government is trying to enforce measures to control the virus but people are breaking the rules as they desperately try to make ends meet ill just hear as many on a sanchez reports from lima. Before you have little rock arkansas over a little children a selling bamboo plants the businessman turned Street Vendor says hell do whatever he can to put food on the table for his wife and children who were born north york i had the Small Business but when the pandemic began i tried to stay home with my family and lost everything now i have no choice but to sell anything on the streets to make all the 6 or 8. 00 which is not enough for food. It is National Statistics institute says nearly 7000000 peruvians lost their jobs as a result of the government restrictions to prevent people from getting checked it with covert 1000 thats 40 percent of produce urban population out before in the last 3 months market i wake up call that theres so much poverty and no work we have to sell whatever theres no money to eat. And businesses especially retail and services have gone bankrupt analysts say the worst recession in more than 100 years throwing a canonic achievements back 10 years to share an economy the effects of brutal its the worst recession since the 19th century the economy was shut down completely in 12 or 24. 00 regions there wasnt one covert case instead of isolating them the quarantine was also imposed on them which reveals a lack of understanding of the effects of such a measure. Since the pandemic began the government approved an aid package of nearly 36000000000. 00 to reignite the economy including tax relief sent cheap loans the government is handing out more than 200. 00 in subsidies to more than 5 and a half 1000000 poor prove the ends of the Distribution Process is slow and inefficient and doesnt reach everyone who needs it. They simply dont want it for any Historic Context including jury award the numbers a staggering and the long term effects a huge loss of Human Capital children with education and mel nutrition problems. Well see the effects for the next 10 or 15 years since june colvin 1000 cases have doubled the worst tell you that in america to brazil in the last 2 weeks more than 100000 peruvians were infected the government we imposed curfews and banned family gatherings. They want to avoid getting infected without food on their tables the choice is tough. In the midst of an identity crisis the World Trade Organization is looking for a new director general President Trump says the w t o is broken but has been taken advantage of by the likes of china the comments were made during a tit for tat trade war one of the 8 candidates for the post is liam fox a member of the u. K. Parliament and former trade minister but hes also backed briggs it the irony of his candidacy hasnt been lost at home or abroad aljazeera is laura kyle spoke to mr fox began by asking if he was the right candidate for the job well i hope so i think the w. T. Was a Great Organization i think its got great Technical Skills i think its been great institutional memory but it doesnt address political waves and at the moment most of the disputes in the Global Trading system are political and you can buy in Technical Support but you cant really buy in political experience and i think that is the elected politician in this race i think i can bring an understanding or how you operate at the top. Or trade on defense secretary for a g 7 country ok but what about your support for bracks that youre a strong and ardent bracks a teddy and thats going to work against you just really in the spirit unplayable ization as it. Well thats what happens to doesnt fit that center right thing but the only time in my 65 bilateral that the issue really comes up is when talking to journalists so i dont think it really matters because i think its not the address of the next d. J. That matters its what agenda the