Azerbaijan’s energy regulator, EBRD mull cooperation

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad 

Azerbaijan’s newly set up Energy Regulatory Agency and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have discussed the bank’s project to support the agency.

During an online meeting held on January 29, the agency’s Chairman Samir Akhundov briefed EBRD about the second phase of the EBRD project “Support to the newly established Azerbaijan Energy Regulatory Agency”.

He also spoke about the work on coordination of the draft law on regulators in the field of energy and utilities.

Akhundov noted that the intensive and productive work has been carried out by five working groups, set up to prepare regulatory and legal documents.

As for the other direction of the project, he underlined that two pilot topics were selected to increase the agency’s staff knowledge and skills, strengthen their capacity, adding that a number of meetings and discussions were organized on these topics.

The meeting was attended by AERA Chairman Samir Akhundov, EBRD’s London office Chief Project Consultant Vesselina Haralampieva, Chief Energy Economist Giuseppe Grimaldi, and other representatives, as well as Lead Consultant and DNV GL Project Manager Konstantin Petrov and other consultants.

The Azerbaijani Energy Regulatory Agency is a public legal entity established under the Energy Ministry in accordance with the presidential decree dated December 27, 2017. The electricity, heating and gas supplies fields are defined as main activities of the Azerbaijan Energy Regulatory Agency.

Established in 1991, EBRD is a leading investor in Azerbaijan. The country has been cooperating with EBRD since 1992 to achieve further economic development. One of the main priorities of EBRD in Azerbaijan is to support the local corporate sector with direct financing. EBRD continues to pursue investments in energy projects, especially where there is a gap to improve efficiency and energy security.

Azerbaijan is the largest recipient of EBRD funds in the Caucasus, as well as one of the largest recipients of this organization’s funds in the CIS and Eastern Europe.

To date, the EBRD has invested €3.3 billion ($3.6bn) in Azerbaijan’s economy within 172 projects. The EBRD also provides business consulting services to small and medium enterprises, has provided technical support to improve financial performance and development of more than 1000 companies.