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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will speak at the 9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 1st Ministerial Meeting of the first Green Energy Advisory Council in Baku.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the opening ceremony.

The head of state addressed the event.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear President Iohannis,

Dear Commissioner Simson,

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, I’d like to welcome President of Romania, who is on an official visit to Azerbaijan, and express gratitude for his participation at today’s important event. This once again demonstrates the importance Romania is paying to the issues related to energy security. Our future joint steps will be done in close coordination between our two countries, which are strategic partners.

I also would like to especially express gratitude to Madame Commissioner Simson for continuing support to all our initiatives, for every efficient co-chairing of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor and for her contribution to successful implementation of this important project.

Today we gathered for the ninth time. And, of course we have a lot to talk about, to review what has been done, as we usually do, and, of course, the most important to plan our future steps.

A lot has changed in the world since the 8th Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor, which was held here a year ago. The world has changed. Energy security issues became more and more important for every country. And as we usually said during the meetings that energy security is really the matter of national security. And all what has been done by our joint efforts with respect to building new routes and engaging new sources now seems to be much more needed than ever before. And it was good that we did everything on time. We did not lose time though there has been certain delays during the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project. But, in general, we were just very committed to complete it as soon as possible and now, by the way, we already talk about expansion.

The Southern Gas Corridor was inaugurated only something more than two years ago, but already today we talk about expansion of TANAP from 16 to 32 billion cubic meters and expansion of TAP from 10 to 20. This really demonstrates the big need for alternative source of energy. This demonstrates the big need for continued diversification of energy supplies and we are ready for that. So, all what has been done by our joint efforts in previous years, today it is at our disposal and our team is becoming bigger. We have more flags today in this room and more distinguished guests.

There have been several important milestones last year, which demonstrates our joint commitment to energy security. First of all, I’d like to mention the important document, which was signed here in Baku between President of the European Commission Madame Ursula von der Leyen and myself on strategic partnership in the field of energy which was signed last July and which actually is a clear roadmap for our future plans. So, we plan by 2027 to double our gas export to Europe and this is doable, because we have resources. We have mutual political will, and we have a very high level of mutual trust. So, one of the important factors of successful implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project, apart from technical and sometimes political issues to be resolved, is the high level of mutual trust and I would even call it a mutual solidarity. When we immediately are seeing that someone is in need, we are trying to support. I think this is a good spirit of partnership and should be a guidance for us in our future endeavors. Especially now, when along with the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, we will have today the first Advisory Council on green energy.

Another important milestone was inauguration of Interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria, which of course was generated by the Southern Gas Corridor project and is to a certain degree its extension, which allowed us to start supply natural gas to Bulgaria and also consider expansion through that extension, through that interconnector to the neighboring countries.

Of course, December was a remarkable month for energy security because of two important events. First, signing of an agreement between Azerbaijan and Romania on gas supply, and the gas supply will start soon. So, Romania joins the team of countries part of the Southern Gas Corridor. And also, singing of an agreement on green energy development and transmission between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania, which will create additional synergy for our efforts and will actually open a new chapter in energy security. So, these were important milestones.

If we talk about this year, this January, we signed the MoU between Azerbaijan and Hungary on gas supplies. So, this even expands the number of countries, members of our team. And all that is due to, first, close political relationship between the countries involved. Active coordination and efficient chairmanship by the European Commission and Azerbaijan of our efforts, and also, is a reflection of energy dialogue, which has started and was formalized between the European Union and Azerbaijan, which embraces natural gas, electricity, hydrogen, green hydrogen. I think this is a very unique, and very efficient format for our cooperation.

So, as soon as the MOU with the European Commission on increasing of gas supply to Europe was signed, we started in Azerbaijan to work actively to look for additional opportunities to supply more gas. Now, apart from expected production from new fields, which we expect, for instance, this year, and increase of production from existing Shahdeniz field, which definitely is the case, we also work on energy efficiency domestically. We are working on a program of reduction of losses. We are working on the program of combination of our domestic needs with respect to electric energy and natural gas to save more gas, which we are using now to generate electricity in Azerbaijan for export.

Our natural gas export is growing. In 2021, it was around 19 billion cubic meters. Last year it was 22.6. And this year we expect 24.5. So that means that the MOU with the European Commission is successfully implemented. We not only increase the production, we increase export and we expand the geography. And I'm sure that today the countries, which are involved in this project, will see and already see the benefit of it. And also it allows through different other connections and potential interconnectors to connect many more countries in Europe.

With respect to the resources of natural gas, I many times already said that we have natural gas reserves, which will be enough for us and our partners for at least 100 years. Today, we are, of course, looking forward to having the first Advisory Council on the green energy. The team is relatively small.

We have four countries, but with the potential to grow. Because we think that not only the governments, but also the companies will be interested in participation in this important initiative. At the first Advisory Council, of course, the conceptual issues must be addressed. How we will form our activity? What will be the responsibility of each country? How private companies can be involved? Whether it will be a consortium of companies or each country will do its part of work on its sovereign territory? So, these are all issues to be addressed and agreed. Because it’s not only to produce the renewable sources of energy from Azerbaijani offshore and onshore fields and also to build a new transmission line to our border with Georgia, but also to build a cable under the Black Sea.

Therefore, we need to properly structure our plans and see who can be potential investors. And of course, we are looking forward to continuing our cooperation with the international financial institutions. I’d like to take this opportunity to express gratitude to the governments of countries, which are our partners - Turkiye, Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Italy, our new partners Romania, Moldova, Hungary.

Special gratitude to the European Commission for continued support and great leadership. Also, I’d like to express many thanks to the governments of the United States and United Kingdom for continuous support of our initiative and providing strong framework for broad cooperation, including investments opportunities and financing.

The companies, which are involved in this process, especially SOCAR and bp, two leading companies, which have already a strategic relationship for 30 years, and at least 30 years to come, and leading financial institutions whose representatives are present today - World Bank, EBRD, ADB, AIB, Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, IFC. So, all the leading financial institutions are with us, and we hope that we will continue our fruitful cooperation also in the areas of renewables.

Today, in Azerbaijan, together with our investors, Masdar and ACWA power, we jointly implement two investment projects of solar and wind power generation of a total of 470 megawatts. One project, which is already in the pipeline with bp, which soon will start to be implemented in the liberated territories of Jabrayil district of 240 megawatts that will be total of 710. And if everything goes according to our plans, within one year, one year and a half, we will have this capacity, and that will save hundreds of millions of cubic meters of natural gas for export.

With respect to the plans for renewables, only with apart from what I already said, only with three major energy companies, we have agreed and signed MoU and agreements to produce up to 25 gigawatts of renewable energy offshore and onshore solar and wind. Masdar 10, Fortescue 12 and ACWA power today will be a ceremony 2.5 additional to what has already been signed and being implemented. So, this is really a huge potential.

Therefore, when we are talking about Black Sea cable we need to plan it in stages, and also to coordinate it with demand in Europe. And, of course, to see a broad picture of our potential cooperation in European continent. Because I'm sure that Romania and Hungary will not be as a final destination for green energy.

The potential of Azerbaijan’s green energy also is available. It has been already confirmed. Only offshore wind potential is 157 gigawatts, onshore wind and solar 27, up to 10 gigawatts of potential of wind and solar we have in the territories, which we liberated something more than two years ago as a result of the Patriotic War. And also we have discovered the big potential in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and now we are in the process of negotiations to evaluate the opportunity to build a 500 megawatt solar power station. And I think there'll be even more capacity. So, this is what we have.

Now we have already good records of achievements on gas distribution. We have signed an agreement on green energy. We should create the synergy between natural gas and renewables and look at it as a package. We have a strong political will, and also we have a good success story. Because so far, all the projects, which we jointly implemented in different formats with different countries, whether it was Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, Southern Gas Corridor, all of them were successful.

I'm sure that our future plans to increase our presence with natural gas on European continent and our future plans with renewables also will be successful. For that we need to continue team work, for that we need to continue to support each other. I'm sure next time when we meet in Baku next February, we will talk about new achievements.

Thank you for your attention!

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Senior representatives of the European Union, Turkiye, Italy, US, Great Britain, Georgia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine and Croatia are participating in the events.

Energy companies such as SOCAR, bp, BOTAS, TANAP, TAP, TPAO, TAQA, Bulgargaz EAD, Bulgartransgaz, ICGB, Fluxys, ROMGAZ SA, SACE, Desfa, TotalEnergies, FGSZ Ltd, SNAM, Uniper, Petronas, ACWA Power, Masdar, Fortescue Future Industries, WindEurope, SolarPower Europe, and financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other institutions are attending the meetings as well.

The meetings will be continued with plenary sessions on the “Southern Gas Corridor and Green Energy Ministerial Session”, the “Southern Gas Corridor: Expanding Affordable, Stable and Safe Natural Gas Supply” and the “Green Energy: Delivery of Caspian Sea Wind Energy to European Energy Markets”.

The plan also includes the first meeting of the Steering Committee on the implementation of the “Agreement on a strategic partnership in the field of green energy between the Governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania” as part of the Advisory Council.

In the end, a press conference will be held on the results of the meetings.

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