(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Elnur Enveroglu read more The Azerbaijani economy is quickly rebounding from the pandemic
and the global negative impacts. Along with mega projects in the
pipeline across Karabakh, gas and energy initiatives oriented to
Europe under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev are now on
the radar.
However, the major point in question is what are the
main factors that stimulate Azerbaijan to be the driving force
behind such giant projects.
What is awe-inspiring is that Azerbaijan has taken this
initiative simultaneously by overcoming the pandemic and liberating
its own lands after a nearly 30-year-long occupation of Armenia. On
the one hand, Karabakh is being restored with the nation's own
resources, on the other hand, new projects both domestically and
externally are being implemented to both achieve a sustainable
economy and bring home cutting-edge technologies with the help of
foreign companies.
Are the neighboring countries reckoning with
Azerbaijan?
Some states, which once exerted certain pressures on Azerbaijan
via international institutions and organizations, are now
reconciled with Baku's clout in place owing to the triumphant
victory on the battlefield and brand-new projects serving as an
alternative energy source. Luckily, certain regional and global
processes prove to be a real godsend to the nation's mega projects,
paving the way for prompt approvals and investment
opportunities.
Judging by unfolding regional and global processes, Russia has
long come to terms with the reality as official Baku is engaged
with its own plans driven by its own national interests. Because
the events unfolding in the region have created new realities
everyone has to accept that official Baku has the leading role in
the political chess game in the region. Now even Europe's cold
hands are warming up on Baku's westward gas pipelines.
The pipeline of the hope - spanning between the
countries of the Caspian and the Adriatic Seas
TAP and Italy-Azerbaijani economic relations are built on this
road. 'If the beginning of the Southern Gas Corridor is
Azerbaijan's sector in the Caspian Sea, its endpoint is Italy, and
several countries along the way benefit from Azerbaijani gas.'
The fact that the president of Azerbaijan made such a statement
during his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the largest
Thermal Power Station with a capacity of 1,280 MW at Baku's
Gulustan Palace on February 13, clearly proves how important
Azerbaijan is for Europe. Certainly, as President Ilham Aliyev
noted, the biggest slice of the cake, that is, Azerbaijani oil and
gas are delivered to the Italian market, and the Italian energy
market has been benefiting from Azerbaijan's gas for more than two
years.
All work does not end here. Azerbaijan also has the potential to
export not only gas but also green energy to Europe as a whole. In
this regard, two weeks ago, the negotiations between the leaders of
Romania and Azerbaijan in a wide format also laid the foundation
stone of the economic perspectives that may cover the energy market
in the future.
What makes the anti-Azerbaijani policy shut their
mouths?
Undoubtedly, large capital and a strong economy are the
backbones of any state. As much as Azerbaijan is interesting to the
West, it is a way sharper competitor among its competitors in the
region. The neighbors are always disturbed by any of its
achievements such as Iran or Russia. It is for this reason that
Iran, the southern neighbor, and Russia, from the north, exhibit a
chaotic political approach and pretend to be with Azerbaijan at
every moment, but in fact, they are conducting opposite policies in
the background.
The opportunities created by the processes between Russia and
Ukraine for the economy of Azerbaijan, and the rapid pace of
rebuilding activities in the Karabakh and Western Zangezur economic
regions, which irritate Iran, can be examples of this in every way.
However, one point should not be forgotten the severe effects of
the pandemic forced even the strongest countries to stick to rules
they did not like. Today, those who do not want to comply with
Baku's policies once again knocked on the door of Azerbaijan, the
strategic nation and the driving economic engine of the South
Caucasus.
In a nutshell, it should be underlined that Azerbaijan's
successful policy in the economic sector over the recent two years
after the Patriotic War has succeeded in neutralizing efforts of
certain European circles to harm Baku's interests or water down its
projects.
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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews' staff editor, follow him on
@elnurmammadli1
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