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Qabil Ashirov

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Despite all criticism and slander, the South Gas Corridor (SGC), which is considered Azerbaijan's source of pride, proved to be of vital importance for Europe. Besides, it foreshadows the farsightedness of Azerbaijani political decision-making. Prior to the SGC, many attempts to form public opinion around the world by gossiping about the project would be unsuccessful because Azerbaijan does not have enough natural gas to meet the demands of the project. However, Azerbaijan did not waste time paying attention to nonsense and resolutely continued its work.

Currently, Azerbaijan supplies eight countries, of which six are situated in Europe, with natural gas. Besides, changing geopolitical situations in Europe increased Azerbaijan's importance, and other countries requested Baku for gas. In other words, as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in his address at the 10th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 2nd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting held in Baku on March 1, it is a success story.

“The Southern Gas Corridor has already been operating for three years. It is a really success story. It is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Eurasia,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

Besides, considering SGC as a pipeline transferring oil from the Caucasus to Europe could not be proper. First of all, it connects several countries and requires the collaboration of these countries. Occurrences in the Old Continent and speeches of the Azerbaijani president give us bases to predict that SGC will expand further to deliver Azerbaijani gas deep in Europe. So, SGC is also the fruit of the solidarity of countries that come together thanks to the initiative of Azerbaijan and its political leaders. As President Ilham Aliyev said, “This project is a project of energy security and a project of cooperation because without cooperation between all the countries, which are situated on the route of the Southern Gas Corridor, it wouldn’t have been possible to implement this project.”

As a matter of course, it is very hard to bring different countries together from different continents and different cultures. Frankly speaking, it is a job that requires a lot of hard work. However, Azerbaijan has surmounted it discreetly. The country proved itself to be a reliable partner, which is not only uttered by Azerbaijani politicians but also emphasised by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. President Ilham Aliyev also touched on the issue and said, “Azerbaijan already proved to be a reliable partner. Our word means the same as our signature.”

Azerbaijan has achieved such respect with its behaviour. The country has realised all its plans and projects that were put forward and is committed to its obligations. Thus, whenever the political leader of Azerbaijan makes promises, everyone is sure that they will be fulfilled in the near future. As President Ilham Aliyev mentioned, “All the plans, which we've put in front of ourselves, I'm sure, will be implemented because only the performance of the last year demonstrates that.”

President Ilham Aliyev also spoke about the projects that will happen soon. As he said, “We expect the beginning of natural gas production in the first quarter of next year from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli deep gas project. This is a very promising structure. For many years, the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli has been the main source of our oil exports, being an additional source to gas supply along with the Shahdeniz and Absheron.”

However, today, some forces in the world try to put blame on oil and gas production. These romantic and adventurist forces try to form public opinion that the world does not need fossil fuels. However, it is not correct. According to the research, the world will use fossil fuels for a long time. On the other hand, it is a reality that the world is entering a new era that demands new kinds of energy, more precisely green energy. To transfer new energy, the world needs finance. However, the finance must not be selective, and it must not hinder the gas projects. As the Azerbaijani president said, “The financing of the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor and any other project related to natural gas must be done in such a way as not to undermine our main target. There was and there is a big demand from Europe for Azerbaijani gas.”

Despite having enough fossil fuel to meet its demands for 100 years, Azerbaijan is the leading country, paying special attention to shifting to green energy in the region. The country has 200 GW of green energy potential, and it plans to turn some of these energies into electricity. In this way, the country, on the one hand, will export 4 GW of electricity to Europe and, on the other hand, meet its electricity demand. So, with the help of green energy, the country could save plenty of fossil fuels that are used to generate electricity.

To demonstrate how seriously the country approaches green energy and climate issues, the country is going to host COP 29 in 2024. To host this global event on climate change shows the will of Azerbaijan.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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