Baku, September 21, AZERTAC

The 7th Caspian Energy Forum was held in Baku.

Opening the forum, the first deputy chairman and the chief executive officer of Caspian European Club Telman Aliyev said that the Forum is being held by support of the Azerbaijani Government and the Caspian European Club. He spoke of the activity of structure.

More than 1500 delegates from 70 countries have taken part in work of the forum. Among them are the heads of government institutions, ministries, state committees, state agencies, public services and also heads of the state and multinational companies, international financial institutions, leading analytical centers, investment companies and rating agencies of the countries of the Caspian and Black Sea and Baltic regions and also representatives of the diplomatic and international missions accredited in Azerbaijan.

Addressing the forum, the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov, called as remarkable holding this forum on September 20, on the 24th anniversary of signing of the Contract of the Century. He called participation of representatives of various structures and the companies of the Caspian and Black Sea and Baltic regions in the Caspian Energy Forum as a good opportunity for establishment of new relations and development of cooperation.

The minister has provided large information on the transnational projects which are carried out by Azerbaijan, especially he stressed the upcoming realization of the Southern Gas Corridor, underlined the role of Azerbaijan in ensuring energy security of the region and Europe. “We carry out the Southern Gas Corridor project which will change the power map of the region and Eurasia in general. This project plays an important role from the point of view of ensuring energy security, diversification of sources and routes. It will provide the most Balkan countries with natural gas. The main source of this chain of pipelines is the Shahdeniz field. In the long term it is possible use of resources in the other fields of the Caspian sector of Azerbaijan” - Shahbazov said.

The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev emphasized the importance of forum, which is conducted in the country of strong environment protection. He spoke of the projects directed to protection of ecology of the Caspian Sea.

A video message by the vice-president of European Commission for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic to participants of the Caspian Energy Forum Baku-2018 was demonstrated. He, in particular, said: “Transit of energy resources is very important for us. From this point of view, gas has special importance. For this reason, Azerbaijan and all Caspian region are important partners of the European Union. Azerbaijan is the main supplier of the Southern Gas Corridor. With implementation of this project the power balance of Europe will be diversified. Together in 2020 we will achieve transportation of the Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe. It will be a historical event”. The vice-president of European Commission for the power union considers that not only participants of the project, but in general the whole Europe will benefit from implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project. The Southern Gas Corridor will make huge contribution to a decarbonization and power efficiency on the continent, Maros Sefcovic considers.

The Deputy Chairman of the State Agency for Renewable & Alternative Energy of Azerbaijan (ABOEMDA) Jamil Malikov, who has made a speech at the forum spoke of the projects realized in the country on alternative and renewables. He has reported that the main objective of the agency is creation till 2020 of wind, solar and 420 megawatts bio-power stations.

The representatives of various government and private institutions who have made speech at the forum have informed about activity of the represented structures, about importance of expansion of cooperation and implementation of new projects.

Organizers of the Forum have handed to the Forum participants special certificates, and to the companies which have made a special contribution to development of Azerbaijan’s national economy - the Caspian Energy Award 2018.

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