Baku, February 20, AZERTAC

As part of his visit to the United States of America, Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov has met with Antonella Bassani, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia.

The sides hailed the multilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the World Bank in the field of energy. They discussed the issues of increasing the World Bank's support for renewable energy and energy efficiency components of the energy transition in Azerbaijan, accelerating the implementation of priority projects on the cooperation agenda, as well as cooperation within the framework of COP29.

Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov highly appreciated the participation of the World Bank in large-scale activities related to the development of renewable energy, grid strengthening and modernization for domestic consumption and export in Azerbaijan, as well as in the development of a regional Green Energy Corridor. The minister noted that in close cooperation with the EBRD and other potential partners of the World Bank, Intensification of the grid strengthening process in order to integrate 8 wind and solar power plants into the energy system by 2027 and for this purpose, the acceleration of financial support is of great importance for the realization of the renewable energy goals of our country. He emphasized that the Caspian-Black Sea-Europe green energy corridor and cooperation to increase the offshore wind energy potential in the coming years support Azerbaijan to become a green energy supplier. In this regard, information on the preparation of a feasibility study for the corridor covering 4 countries, the creation of a joint venture, as well as the green energy transfer from Central Asia through this corridor was brought to the attention.

Congratulating Azerbaijan on hosting COP29, Vice-President Antonella Bassani said that the World Bank is ready to help Azerbaijan, as the country presiding over COP, demonstrate its progress on the green energy transition, in joint projects realization soon and in the implementation of an ambitious reform agenda.

During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on cooperation regarding the connection of 760 MW Banka and Bilasuvar solar energy projects to the energy system, rooftop solar panels, energy storage systems, “green hydrogen”, energy efficiency and emission reduction.