Parliamentarian underscores Azerbaijan's growing role in European energy security

By Aytac Seyhun

The official visit of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to Azerbaijan on February 2 proves that the European countries are interested in elevating and further expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan to the level of strategic partnership, Azernews reports, citing MP Kamaladdin Gafarov.

Romanian-Azerbaijani relations have been intensively developing on the basis of strategic partnerships for many years. Over this period, two documents on strategic partnership between the two countries were signed, the parliamentarian said, adding that "as President Ilham Aliyev noted in his statement to the press, there are positive results between our countries in trade and economic spheres".

The president also emphasized that although the trade turnover has more than doubled, the country is not satisfied as the majority of this turnover falls to the share of crude oil Romania exports from Azerbaijan. Therefore, extra steps will be taken for the diversification of the trade turnover, and for this purpose, the activity of the inter-governmental commissions can be of special importance, MP Kamaladdin Gafarov said.

The parliamentarian emphasized that the energy sector plays a leading role in Romanian-Azerbaijani relations.

“As President Ilham Aliyev noted at present energy is the most important issue on the agenda of world countries. The energy sector occupies a key place in Romanian-Azerbaijani relations. As one of the aspects confirming this is the efficient operations of SOCAR in Romania for many years. Today, cooperation between our countries is entering a new stage. An agreement on the delivery of natural gas to Romania was signed when the president was in Bucharest last month," the parliamentarian added.

Thus, Azerbaijani gas will reach a new address in Europe, and in parallel, using the capabilities of Romania, Azerbaijani gas will be transported to other European countries, he said, adding that two years ago, the last segment of the Southern Gas Corridor was successfully completed, and the importance of Azerbaijan as a reliable energy partner for the European Union further increased.

We should note that the Strategic Partnership Memorandum on natural gas signed between the European Union and Azerbaijan in 2022 in Baku once again confirms the trust in Azerbaijan, the MP said, adding that it is rapidly increasing gas exports to Europe to ensure the successful implementation of the memorandum.

At the same time, important steps are being taken in the direction of cooperation in the green energy sector between Azerbaijan and Romania and during his visit to Romania, President Ilham Aliyev had efficient discussions to this effect, he noted.

This strategic project requires huge investment and connects several nations and two seas. In addition, the transport sector between Azerbaijan and Romania can be of great importance. As the president said, there are very good opportunities for deepening cooperation between the ports of Baku and Constanta, and the realization of these opportunities can pave the way for the implementation of extremely interesting projects for the entire Eurasian space, MP Kamaladdin Gafarov added.