First IAEE Eurasian Conference kicks off
Baku this week opened its doors for the first Eurasian Conference of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE).
The conference entitled “Emerging energy economies in the Caspian regions: Changes and Opportunities” brought together 77 delegations from 21 countries in the capital city of energy-rich Azerbaijan.
President of the IAEE Gurkan Kumbaroglu, welcoming the guests on August 29, said that the purpose of the conference is to gather the world's energy giants in Baku and develop IAEE activities in the Caspian Sea region.
“Despite the fact that over the past 10 years, oil and gas producing countries in the Caspian region have the experience of rapid economic development under the influence of high energy prices, the current oil prices fall left its mark on them,” the IAEE president said.
The Caspian Sea region, which includes Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran, is one of the oldest oil-producing areas in the world and is an increasingly important source of global energy production. The area has significant oil and natural gas reserves from both offshore deposits in the Caspian Sea itself and onshore fields in the region.
EIA estimates that there were 48 billion barrels of oil and 292 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in proved and probable reserves within the basins that make up the Caspian Sea and surrounding area in 2012.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Energy Minister Natig Abbasov, addressing the event, informed about the history of oil production in the country, noting the importance of the “Contract of the Century”, highlighted the latest achievements in construction of oil transportation, in particular, the Southern Gas Corridor project, its importance in diversification of oil transportation routes.
He emphasized that the SGC, which is of great importance due to diversification of energy resources in Europe, will enhance Azerbaijan’s role in forming eastern and western energy corridors.
“We discussed the unresolved conflicts. The last meeting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was held with the mediation of the Russian president. It was an essential part of the negotiations, and left an impression that we are going the right way,” Mammadyarov said.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
The two ministers emphasized that the two countries support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other, noting that the sides will continue cooperation and mutual support in international organizations, particularly in the UN and its divisions, GUAM, Council of Europe, European Union, and BSEC.
During the meeting the sides also discussed the main directions of cooperation, including in economy, energy and transport spheres, and also discussed important regional projects.
The sides reviewed the issues such as advancing the cooperation in the areas of education, culture, youth, health, environment, tourism and sports, holding mutual cultural days and developing joint tourist routes, as well.
“Azerbaijani investments in Georgia are ongoing, they are increasing. Since the beginning of 2016 tourism has grown by 16 percent. Azerbaijan ranks first in the number of visitors,” said Janelidze.
The ministers further noted that the parliamentary relations are important component of the wide encompassing cooperation. In the regard, the relationship between the parliaments of the two countries, mutual visits at the level of Speakers of Parliament and activities of interparliamentary Working Groups were mentioned.
They stated that the legal base of the two countries cooperation is comprehensive. Around 110 different documents have been signed between the two countries. For expansion of bilateral legal-treaty framework 15 documents are under consideration.
During a one-day visit, Mammadyarov also met with the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament David Usupashvili. The sides discussed bilateral relations, including the issues of inter-parliamentary and economic cooperation.