Following Azerbaijan's return to state sovereignty in 1991, there was a severe crisis that affected every aspect of our country. The First Karabakh War caused significant losses for Azerbaijan. The country descended into a major humanitarian crisis as a result of the destruction of its economic potential, the halting of progress, and the increasing number of refugees and internally displaced people.

The process of state construction in Azerbaijan began in 1993 with the repeated return of National Leader Heydar Aliyev to the helm of the country at the adamant request of the Azerbaijani people.

Following the international community's acknowledgement of Azerbaijan's independence at the close of the 20th century, our country focused on safeguarding not only the state's interests but also those of all parties involved by managing and allocating fairly natural resources of the Azerbaijani people.

The interests of all parties in the continued growth of the globe and the region were safeguarded by the Contract of the Century, which was signed on September 20, 1994, thanks to the leadership and unceasing efforts of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev and is still in effect today. At the same time, the Contract’s implementation allowed the young Republic of Azerbaijan to gain international recognition, expand its authority, and establish itself as a trustworthy partner. One of the keystones of our freedom, the oil contract played a significant role in supporting both the growth of our economy and our triumph in the Second Garabagh-Patriotic War.

It should be noted that 13 major oil companies of the USA, Great Britain, Russia, Turkey, Norway, Japan and Saudi Arabia took part in signing the contract with the Republic of Azerbaijan: Amoco, BP, McDermott, UNOCAL, Lukoil, Statoil, Exxon, Turkish Petrols, Pennzoil, ITOCHU, Ramco, and Delta.

It is no accident that Azerbaijan, which flawlessly fulfilled the Contract of the Century signed in 1994, has the confidence of all participating international consortiums as well as partner states, and is currently regarded as the leading state in the region.

In general, since 2003, President Ilham Aliyev has declared energy policy a priority in Azerbaijan's multi-vector foreign policy and uses it as the main tool to ensure Azerbaijan's integrity, peace, stability, and secure sustainable development in the region. The world's states are becoming more interested in Azerbaijan as a result of the significant projects which completed over the past 20 years in connection with logistic corridors between North and South and West and East. Despite changes in the political landscape of the world, Azerbaijan continues to be committed to energy policy and rising to new challenges.

Year after year, Azerbaijan has been effectively managing its oil contracts and growing its gas production. Future project planning and execution also heavily depend on the discovery of alternative energy sources, which is one of the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution, and the enhancement of the green agenda, which is a crucial component of Azerbaijan's energy policy.

We can declare with pride that Azerbaijan, which signed the "Contract of the Century" in 1994 and is known throughout the globe as a dependable producer of gas and oil, is effectively changing its energy strategy to one of "green" energy and a "green" economy.

Particularly, following the Second Karabakh-Patriotic War, Azerbaijan launched several megaprojects aimed at promoting the "green" economy and producing "green" energy, thus actively contributing to global energy security. From this vantage point, friendly states have a strong desire to strengthen their current relationships in the area of exporting domestically produced alternative energy in addition to oil and gas.

These elements served as Azerbaijan's primary tools for maintaining security, peace, and calm in the South Caucasus both during and after the Second Karabakh-Patriotic War. Therefore, the fact that all countries decided to hold the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in our country this year is a clear indication of the importance placed on our energy policy in general as well as the energy projects, the basis of which was laid by the Great Leader and which we have successfully implemented around the world.

The author is a member of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan