Envoy: Azerbaijan mulls investments in Albanian energy infrastructure

By 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.