Azernews.Az

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said his country would buy gas from Azerbaijan for the next five years, calling this substantial proof of the advanced level of cooperation between the two countries.
Saakashvili made the statement while talking to the press following a meeting with his counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in Baku last week.
"We have signed a five-year agreement on gas supplies with Azerbaijan, which means that the Georgian people will be receiving energy resources from Azerbaijan over the next five years," Azerbaijan`s state news agency Azertag quoted the Georgian leader as saying.
The neighboring South Caucasus republic has been receiving most of its gas from Russia, whose relations with the Saakashvili administration worsened after a military conflict in August 2008. Late last year, a new contract on purchasing fuel from Azerbaijan was signed. Baku and Tbilisi are currently in talks on the price of gas, which was being delivered for $120 per 1,000 cubic meters prior to January.
Stressing that economics is one of the key areas of Georgian-Azerbaijani cooperation, Saakashvili underscored the importance of the energy and transport projects being implemented by the two countries and expressed confidence that bilateral relations would continue to expand. "We are realizing strategic projects," he said.
The joint initiatives include such large-scale projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline - a major conduit that pumps Azerbaijan`s crude to world markets through Georgia and Turkey - as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Gars railway extending from the Georgian border to Gars, Turkey.
During the talks held in Baku, both parties agreed that Azerbaijan would build a subterranean gas storage facility in Georgia, Saakashvili announced during a meeting with Prime Minister Artur Rasizada. According to Saakashvili, construction of the facility will allow the supplying of the country with natural gas for many years to come. Construction work is to be carried out in the southern town of Ninotsminda, where Georgian gas is being produced.
According to preliminary estimates, engineering work is scheduled for completion within nine months, while construction will take two more years.
The amount of investments in the gas storage project and sources of funding are unknown at this point. However, it has been determined that the facility will have the capacity to store 400 million cubic meters of gas, which would provide Georgia with gas for two months.

Joint projects "vital for the region"
The projects being jointly implemented by Georgia and Azerbaijan bear tremendous importance for the region and are positively affecting international relations, President Aliyev said after talks with the Georgian president.
"Georgia and Azerbaijan have always paid much attention to issues of ensuring regional energy security," Aliyev said in a joint media statement. "Thanks to our joint efforts, a brand new situation has emerged in the region today. Certainly, it is important not to confine ourselves to the success achieved, but to jointly realize even more important and large-scale projects in the future."
Aliyev said cooperation with Tbilisi in the transport sector continues just as successfully. "Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Gars railway is continuing successfully. Today we had a broad exchange of views on the further realization of this project and issued relevant instructions."
According to the president, Georgian-Azerbaijani relations represent immense significance for the region. "The development of friendly and fraternal ties is important for our nations and countries, and is also of great importance for providing peace and stability in the region."