(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Ayya Lmahamad
Azerbaijan is in favor of investments in Albania and mainly in
the field of energy infrastructure, Azerbaijan Ambassador to
Albania Anar Huseynov said in the interview with argumentum.al , Azernews reports.
The ambassador expressed the belief that Albania can become a
beneficiary of Azerbaijan's natural gas, adding that the lack of
appropriate infrastructure complicated the issue.
“Therefore, Baku wants to discuss the possibility of investing
in the gas infrastructure of Albania, and first start with a
separate settlement. If the investment is successful, its scope may
increase,” he said.
Speaking about the memorandum of understanding on strategic
partnership in the energy field between Azerbaijan and the EU, he
stressed that it became a new milestone in relations and includes a
commitment to double the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor to
deliver at least 20 billion cubic meters to the European markets
annually by 2027. He added that this will contribute to the EU's
diversification objectives, noting that Azerbaijan is already
increasing deliveries of natural gas to the EU from 8.1 billion
cubic meters in 2021 to an expected 12 billion cubic meters in
2022.
“The EU and Azerbaijan also share the ambition to accelerate the
development and deployment of renewable energy generation and
transmission capacity to fully reap the synergies between the EU's
clean energy transition and Azerbaijan's strong untapped renewable
energy potential, in particular in the offshore energy sector. The
two parties also acknowledge the importance of the Global Methane
Pledge and recognize that making the natural gas supply chain as
efficient, environmentally and climate-friendly as possible is a
collective responsibility. The MoU supports the creation of schemes
to collect natural gas that would otherwise be vented, flared, or
released into the atmosphere. Following the signature of the
Memorandum of Understanding, the parties agreed to hold the
EU-Azerbaijani energy dialogue on a ministerial level to discuss
the practical implementation of the MoU. Azerbaijan has always been
and will remain one of the key and reliable EU partners
contributing to the energy security of Europe,” he said.
Moreover, speaking about agreements reached during the visit of
President Ilham Aliyev to Serbia, the ambassador stated that they
can be divided into short and mid-term ones as regards their
implementation period.
“So, already next year, the year of the 30th anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries, we
plan to hold a series of meetings to discuss the possibilities of
upgrading cooperation in the political, economic, and humanitarian
spheres. A great emphasis is also given to cultural interaction, in
particular, a week of Azerbaijani culture is expected to be held in
Turin in 2023,” he said.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established
on September 23, 1993.
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @ayyalmahamad
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Tags: azerbaijan gas investments albania cooperation southern gas corridor energy