Brussels, May 17, AZERTAC

The European Union's influential Politico news portal has interviewed Azerbaijani Ambassador to Belgium and head of the country`s permanent representation to the European Union Fuad Isgandarov on the Southern Gas Corridor.

What is the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor for Azerbaijan?

It is a real way to the European market … It is a real opportunity to create a transportation network, it's not just about pipelines. The Southern Caucasus is a real bottleneck for transportation routes from Europe to Asia and Asia to Europe.

What do you hear from European officials, who see the Southern Gas Corridor as a way of decreasing the EU's gas dependency on Russia?

We are not competing with Russia. Our general volume of gas is about 10 percent of the gas volumes provided by Russia … (The project) is a real alternative route, we are a real predictable partner, despite all the difficulties. For example, 80 percent of (the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline) has already been built, (the Trans Adriatic Pipeline) will be constructed in the planned period of time and work at Shah Deniz II (Caspian Sea gas field) is going well.

Will economic troubles affect this project?

There is a history behind this. When we started with Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (an oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey crossing Georgia), it was in the middle of the 1990s and when all the documents were signed, the price of oil was $19 per barrel. But we managed to do it … The situation is always changing. But when you are speaking of a large-scale and long-term project you should think very generally, future-oriented and strategically. That's why we have a very friendly approach from different European institutions, including financial institutions, regarding this project.

What about the argument that 10 billion cubic meters is not enough to decrease EU dependency on Russia?

We have our capacity to increase volumes in the future. But what does a pipeline mean? It is like a motorway. Just because you construct it, it doesn't mean it will be immediately filled with cars or transport trucks. But it exists already and that's why it will be used, and maybe in the future you will also see traffic jams there. It's the same with a pipeline. It's never happened that it will start with a huge volume from the start.

Ukraine's energy minister recently said the Southern Gas Corridor was a waste of resources.

It was really strange. I understand (Ukrainian) concerns. They would like to be a transit country for different projects. But they see the competition not in an appropriate way … We are not competing with anybody.

What are your concerns regarding security threats and the Southern Gas Corridor?

The main threat for the Southern Caucasus are unresolved conflicts … On the territory of Azerbaijan, (the pipeline goes) just dozens of kilometers from the frontlines of the occupying troops (in Nagorno-Karabakh). During the last events at the beginning of April, there was an escalation from the Armenian side, but this time we responded very strongly … We understood at that moment that we should respond very strongly because if we don't respond to these attacks, it will repeat and repeat and we could fail on our projects.

Parvana Garayeva

Special Correspondent