POLITICS
CHIEFS OF ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS OF AZERBAIJAN AND RUSSIA HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE
Mr. Chubays noted that during the visit he had negotiated not only with his Azerbaijani colleagues, but also Governments officials, Prime Minister A. Rasizadeh, and especially stressed the importance of his meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.
Today, we have stable flow of electricity not only from Russia to Azerbaijan but also from Azerbaijan to Russia: in all, the positive balance of flow is in favor of Azerbaijan, he said.
Touching upon the results of the visit, Anatoliy Chubays said: we did not discuss current issues, but were talking of strategy. There are possibilities to increase the volume of export, the Azerbaijani side, in principle, is interested in it, but the point is not only increase in flow of electricity. We are interested in joint plans of large-scale construction of power transmission lines. We have common interests concerning third parties.
The Chief of the JSC EUS Of Russia particularly expressed his confidence that after meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, he had gained the impetus to move forward in favor of the two countries’ interests.
President JSC AZERENERGY Etibar Pirverdiyev has also mentioned a number of issues discussed during the negotiations. He stressed the need to improve the quality of cooperation between the two countries in electric power industry, and described the talks held as fruitful.
According to the Chief of national electric power department, in all, electric power system in Azerbaijan is self-sufficient. There are just a number of problems with electricity supply to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic because of 14 year running Armenian blockade; electricity is delivered here from Iran, he said.
Mr. Pirverdiyev underlined the importance of the today’s visit, and expressed confidence in further development of Azerbaijan-Russia cooperation in this field.
Later on, Anatoliy Chubays and Etibar Pirverdiyev responded to questions from journalists.
The press conference was attended by First Vice-premier of the Azerbaijan Government Yagub Eyyubov and Ambassador of Russia to Azerbaijan Nikolay Ryabov.