Baku, Tbilisi comitted to international cooperation
Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili will visit Azerbaijan with an official visit in the coming days. This was announced after a meeting of Kvirkiashvili with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who was in Tbilisi for an official visit on August 29.
Kvirikashvili and Mammadyarov discussed the issues of strategic cooperation between the two countries, as well as prospects for deepening of partnership in the spheres of politics, culture, energy, trade and economy.
They also spoke about the joint large-scale energy projects of regional significance.
They noted that Georgia and Azerbaijan are the main transport links between East and West.
At the meeting the strategic nature of Southern Gas Corridor was stressed and importance of regional projects being carried out in this regard, as well as existing active cooperation between the two countries were highlighted.
Kvirikashvili informed about the progress of the construction of the Georgian section of Baku-TbilisiKars railway line and expressed his hopes for completion of the project on time.
Mammadyarov, in turn, stressed the strategic nature of relations between the two countries and underlined that the development of these ties are in progress.
Implementation of joint main infrastructure projects and importance of mutual investments were also mentioned, while successful activity of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) in Georgia was commended.
Prior to this meeting, Mammadyarov met with his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Janelidze and discussed problems of unresolved conflicts in the region.
Mammadyarov stressed that Azerbaijan stands for substantive talks to change the existing status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is considered by the international community, member-states of the OSCE Minsk Group as unacceptable and inconsistent.
Despite the decline in oil prices, Azerbaijan continues to realize big transnational projects, said the deputy energy minister.
As a country located at the intersection of Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan has exceptional opportunities for transportation of energy resources, he noted adding that the SGC is one of the biggest infrastructure and energy projects of Europe.
“As an energy security project, the SGC will bring benefit to all of us - producers, transit countries and consumers -- for years to come,” added Abbasov.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian Sea region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.
He further added that Azerbaijan made a new contribution to Europe’s energy security with the SGC project.
“TANAP (Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline), which will be laid from the Georgian-Turkish border to the Turkish-Greek border, is a very important project in the context of ensuring the regional, particularly European security,” said the deputy minister. “The creation of the energy corridor will be completed by laying the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline), from the Turkish-Greek border to Italy’s south.”
TAP has enough capacity to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe and will allow creating a complex network of gas pipelines in Europe, said Abbasov.
He mentioned that the construction of the planned Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) will allow delivering Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The IAP pipeline is planned to be connected to the TAP pipeline in the Albanian city of Fier. Azerbaijani gas will be delivered to a number of countries of the southeastern Europe via the IAP pipeline. The pipeline’s capacity will be five billion cubic meters per year.
Organizers of the TAP pipeline have already signed a corresponding memorandum with builders of the IAP, in particular, with Plinacto Ltd. (Croatia), BH-Gas (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Geoplin plinovodi (Slovenia), as well as with governments of Montenegro and Albania.
Currently, Azerbaijan produces 82-88 million cubic meters of gas and 115,000-120,000 tons of oil per day, noted the deputy minister, adding that proved gas reserves of the country amounted to 2.6 trillion cubic meters and oil reserves -- two billion tons.
Abbasov further said that Azerbaijan is considering the possibility to transport Iranian gas through its territory to Europe. He noted that it will be possible through Iran’s joining the TANAP project. The deputy minister also didn’t exclude possibility of transporting Iraqi gas through Azerbaijan to Europe.
President of the Hellenic Association of Energy Economics, Professor Costas Andriosopoulos, who addressed the event on August 30, said that the SGC, through which Azerbaijani gas will be transported to Europe, will enable Greece and the countries of Southeast Europe to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.
He noted that currently the region's dependence on supplies of Russian Gazprom is very high, and it continues to grow with the growth of consumption.
In order to reduce southeast European countries dependence, it is also necessary to build IGB, which will deliver gas from the TAP pipeline further inland Europe, Andriosopoulos thinks. IAEE and Azerbaijan
Kumbaroglu, in an interview to local media, said that IAEE plans to open its office in Baku, not excluding the fact that the office will also operate as a regional center.
He stressed that the negotiations on this issue are underway.
Kumbaroglu emphasized that the conference takes 77 delegates from 21 countries and this is an important indicator for the first conference.
“Given the fact that many had very little information about IAEE, we have achieved successful results. The presence of the Organization, established in 1977 and having 4,500 members in 102 countries, in the Caspian region, will increase the importance of the region's energy market,” he emphasized.
The International Association for Energy Economics is an independent, non-profit, global membership organization for business, government, academic and other professionals concerned with energy and related issues in the international community. It advances the knowledge, understanding and application of economics across all aspects of energy and foster communication amongst energy concerned professionals.