Baku, January 7, AZERTAC

Vuk Vuksanovic, Serbian expert, senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security and Economic Policy shared his insights on the current state of relations between Azerbaijan and Serbia. AZERTAC presents his interview on this topic.

-How do you assess the current state of economic cooperation between Serbia and Azerbaijan?

-Azerbaijan has emerged as a useful partner for Serbia. Economic considerations do play a part in this partnership since the partnership began to kick in with the global financial crisis of 2008. This crisis badly hit Serbia, and as the EU lost its enthusiasm for enlargement, the country found itself on the European periphery with an unresolved territorial dispute. Azerbaijan emerged as a reliable partner and was willing to provide Serbia with badly needed credit lines. This relationship has persevered ever since.

-What are the key sectors for bilateral economic exchange between the two countries?

-The cooperation first began with infrastructural projects primarily via Azerbaijani credits and projects implemented by Azvirt. There are areas like energy, defence industry, agriculture, food production, telecommunications, and information technology that can be added to the list as we advance.

-What are the prospects for cooperation between Serbia and Azerbaijan in the energy sector, especially in the field of oil and gas supplies?

-Energy supply, primarily gas, will make Baku an important partner for Belgrade but will also make Azerbaijan part of Balkan geopolitics to a certain extent. Still, we also have to take into account electricity since Serbia imported electricity from Azerbaijan in 2022 in response to the electrical energy crisis in Serbia.

-What projects in the energy sector can be significant for the development of relations between the two countries? Is the possibility of creating joint ventures in the field of energy infrastructure being considered?

-Srbijagas and Azerbaijan’s oil and gas company SOCAR already signed a contract in late 2023 for the delivery of 400 million cubic meters of natural gas by the end of 2024. The EU-funded interconnector with Bulgaria is at the heart of it all. Regarding electrical energy, a potential joint project to build a 1 GW gas power plant near Serbia’s city of Niš is under consideration by two governments.

-What are the prospects for improving the transport and logistics infrastructure between Serbia and Azerbaijan?

-It cannot be done bilaterally. It can only be done as part of the wider ambitious efforts to boost connectivity between Europe and wider Eurasia, with Southeast Europe being a starting point. This would have to be done with participation from Black Sea littoral countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia and most definitely Türkiye.