Baku to host Azerbaijan-Turkey Energy Forum
By Ayya Lmahamad
Baku will host the Azerbaijan-Turkey Energy Forum in October 2021. The forum will be held as a platform to contribute to the development of energy cooperation in the areas of hydrocarbon, petrochemical, renewable energy and other areas.
The agreement to host the forum was reached at a videoconference between Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez on July 7.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the provisions on energy cooperation in the Shusha Declaration signed by the heads of states of both countries on June 15.
Shahbazov emphasized that the declaration cemented bilateral friendly, brotherly relations in all fields, including in energy sphere.
“The issues such as the Southern Gas Corridor and regional cooperation in the electricity field, as well as the declaration of the liberated territories as "green energy" zone by the Azerbaijani president, deepen our energy cooperation with Turkey,” he said, adding that discussions are being held with Turkish companies on cooperation in the renewable energy field.
In turn, speaking about the successful activities of TPAO and SOCAR in both countries, Donmez touched upon the strategic importance and prospects of joint cooperation in the third country.
Azerbaijan and Turkey cooperate in various fields of economy and have jointly completed giant energy and infrastructure projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and TANAP.
Eleven agreements were signed between the two countries within the Azerbaijani-Turkish business forum held in Ankara on February 18. The agreements envisage the development of Azerbaijani-Turkish cooperation in the economic, trade, and other spheres.
The two countries set up a goal to bring the mutual trade turnover to $15 billion in 2023. It should be noted that so far, Turkey is Azerbaijan’s second-largest investor followed by the UK.
Additionally, Turkey was one of the first countries that expressed its interest and readiness to participate in the restoration of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories.
In the first five months of the year, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey amounted to $1.8 billion. Of the total turnover, export amounted to $1.2 billion, while import was $660.4 million. The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $4.1 billion in 2020.
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad
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