Georgia, Azerbaijan play important role in European energy security

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday that his country and Georgia have played important roles in European energy security.

“Of course, Georgia and Azerbaijan are countries that play an important role in European energy security today, and this role is gradually growing. Of course, the friendly relations between us and cooperation in this field are a great contribution to Europe's energy security,” Aliyev told a joint conference with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.

Underlining that the export of Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe is increasing by the year, Aliyev said Azerbaijan will export 24.5 billion cubic meters of gas to world markets this year.

“In the future, we will actively work on new directions of cooperation in the field of energy. Rather, this work has already begun,” he said.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, and Romania signed an important agreement at the end of last year and the first steering committee meeting on the green energy project was held in Baku in February of this year, he added.

For his part, Garibashvili said that Azerbaijan is an important strategic partner.

“For many years, we have implemented historic projects in various fields, and these projects have brought our peoples and countries even closer together,” he said.

Noting that they will lay an electric cable under the Black Sea, he said they are developing the issue of the Middle Corridor.

“We have a huge potential to transport green energy to Europe, which has great prospects. This is the future. Both countries will invest more in this area. We have discussed that too,” he added.