Azeri Press Agency
March 15, 2023
Action plan along Middle corridor was adopted
Today multilateral meeting on project of simplifying transit customs procedures through the “Single window” principle along the Trans-Caspian International East-West Corridor has been held….
The heads and representatives of the customs services of Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Georgia, the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Kunio Mikuriya, the Deputy Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States Mirvokhid Azimov, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, Representatives of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and other international organizations attended the meeting.
Presentation of Trans-Caspian Transit Portal prepared by experts of Azerbaijan Customs service has been carried out and it has been stressed that this implementation will enable movement of goods and vehicles along the corridor based on one declaration….
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Azertag
March 14, 2023
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev had a meeting with leaders of leading German companies
As reported, on March 13, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev had a meeting with the heads of leading German companies in Berlin.
The correspondent of AZERTAC informs that the moderator of the event opening the meeting, the chief executive director of the Eastern Business Association of Germany Michael Harms said:
- His Excellency, President Aliyev.
Minister of Economy, Mr. Ambassador, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the East German Business Association, I would like to warmly welcome Your Excellency here in Berlin. But I think I can say this on behalf of the entire German business community. It is indeed an honor for us and a sense of satisfaction that we are conducting this discussion today about economic cooperation between Azerbaijani and German businesses. Personally, this event gives me a special sense of satisfaction, because we met just three weeks ago at the Munich Security Conference, and I am very glad that today we can conduct our discussions on concrete projects in a more concrete manner.
I am also grateful to many German companies for joining this important discussion today. Representatives of almost thirty companies representing various sectors gathered here. I am also pleased to welcome here the representatives of the Federal Government, Mr. Reichenbacher and Mrs. Alarich from the Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection….President Aliyev will share with us a strategic overview of the plans for the economic development of Azerbaijan and, in particular, he will provide information on the possibilities and opportunities for German businesses within the framework of our bilateral cooperation.
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Speaking at the meeting, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:
- Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Harms.
Ladies and gentlemen, I also thank you for participating in this meeting. As Mr. Harms pointed out, we met three weeks ago in Munich. So this is my second trip to Germany in less than a month. This time I came to Germany at the invitation of Chancellor Olaf Scholtz. Tomorrow, I will have meetings with the President and the Chancellor, and of course, along with the issues related to the political agenda, we will certainly discuss the possibilities of expanding our commercial and economic relations.
The development of Azerbaijan gave us the opportunity to rely on our own resources….[W]e are about to complete the implementation of projects financed by international financial institutions and plan to take new loans. The last two decades have been years of rapid economic growth, largely due to the energy sector. Now the goal is to work on further diversification of our economy. Because in terms of GDP composition, the majority of GDP is accounted for by the non-energy sector, but we still mainly export oil and gas.
Our economy has more than tripled in the last 20 years. I think this could be considered a world record….We have already started preliminary consultations with the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and several other international financial institutions. But unlike the previous years when we borrowed for infrastructure projects, road construction, railways and so on, now that our own companies and industrial sector have increased capacity, we no longer need funds for this. We will borrow for our country’s strategic goals based on the relatively recently adopted 2030 strategy, and the minimum amount we will collect for the implementation of this strategy will be 40-50 billion US dollars….
As Mr. Harms mentioned, there will also be a cluster related to energy. Let me say a few words about it. Recently – less than a year ago, Azerbaijan was named a reliable partner in the energy sector for Europe by Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. It is a great honor to have our achievements recognized in this way. Where there is a real goal, we supply many European countries with oil, oil products, and petrochemical products.
More than two years ago, some countries have already started buying electricity and, of course, natural gas from Azerbaijan. However, due to the increasing demand for natural gas from new sources in Europe, we are currently planning to expand our pipeline capacity. In particular, we plan to expand TANAP with a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters to 32 billion cubic meters, and TAP with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters to 20 billion cubic meters. This is mainly due to the increase in demand from Europe, as you can imagine that the 3500 kilometer long pipeline connecting 3 pipeline systems, put into operation on January 1, 2021, now needs expansion.
After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, we have been approached by more than 10 European countries regarding gas supply or increasing the existing gas supply….
Another issue that will be part of our discussions is transport and logistics. We have worked very hard to channel our energy sales, oil and gas revenues, into transportation infrastructure. At present, this has almost been achieved. This was almost achieved based on the forecast that we have and in fact our infrastructure is completely covered. But now, as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the demand for Azerbaijan’s transport infrastructure is increasing. Last year, there was a more than 75 percent increase in our transit cargo, and even our relatively newly built seaport with a handling capacity of 15 million tons experienced some congestion.
In short, we work very hard and allocate additional funds to increase the capacity of our seaport and railway infrastructure. Of course, all this must be done. Of course, we hope that German companies will be our partners in this field. As for our main prospective plans, of course, reconstruction works are envisaged in the liberated lands of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, which have been under occupation for about 30 years….[W]e have already started the state program called “Great Return”. We have designed the program and have already implemented the first pilot project….Our plan is to return hundreds of thousands of former IDPs to their homes, because as a result of the Armenian occupation, one million of our compatriots became refugees and IDPs….
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Moderator Michael Harms: Mr. President, thank you very much for outlining clear strategic directions. Thank you for mentioning the impressive numbers. This is very interesting, and I have seen many participants mention it, because it opens up very clear perspectives for us. Let’s start with the energy field. First, I will give the floor to Mr. Weiss, representative of Siemens Energy. Then Mr. Peter Hohaus from “Uniper” company will speak. Mr. Dohna from “SET” company, Mr. Pallut from “Notus Energy” company, then Mr. Kasapoglu and Dr. Falk. There are microphones on the table, use them.
Christian Weiss, representative of “Siemens Energy” company: Thank you. His Excellency, President Aliyev. Ladies and gentleman. First of all, thank you very much for the invitation. It is an important event. My name is Christian Weiss. I represent “Siemens Energy” company. I am responsible for Europe and Central Asia regions for commercial energy operations. We have 19 thousand employees in 90 countries. We also work in Azerbaijan. We service the energy power equipment installed there. I am pleased to note that your economy is growing strongly and you are promoting cooperation with German and other foreign companies. If we talk about specific projects, we have been operating in Azerbaijan for a long time. We are proud of our participation in the 500 megawatt Power Station project in Sumgait.
We are making joint efforts with local partners in the area of operation of substations for the local power grid and electricity transmission, especially in the field of potential assessment in the Karabakh region. By the way, in this case, the strengthening of electricity transmission lines from Caucasian countries in the direction of Turkey and Europe is also envisaged. With this, the complete connection of high-voltage lines can be ensured. Thus, as you mentioned, we can create opportunities for the transmission of electricity produced in Azerbaijan. The last but important thing is that we are ready to undertake and support the implementation of the electrification project in Sangachal together with our partner like BP….I want to say once again that we are working in Azerbaijan and we believe in the country’s success. But I believe we can do more….
President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you.
Peter Hohaus, representative of “Uniper” company : Dear Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen.
I represent “Uniper” company. We are very pleased to have this exchange of ideas with you today. I represent Uniper in Berlin, because I can confirm that you are a reliable partner for natural gas. I would like to mention this area as the first topic. As “Uniper” company, we work in two directions: security of supply for consumers and secondly, decarbonization of the energy system. Of course, we have established a partnership with your company SOCAR [State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic] since 2006. We signed a long-term contract in 2013, and from the end of 2019, your company is a reliable natural gas supplier for us in the Southern Gas Corridor. Therefore, we think that considering the current conditions, our diversification strategy has changed. In Germany, they believe that It would be good if further expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor takes place. That is, the transmission capacity should increase to 20 billion cubic meters, because as Uniper company, we are very interested in supplying more natural gas through that route. Therefore, it would be good if both governments pay attention to the remaining issues and take steps in the field of financing, and speed up the procedures for issuing permits. Here, of course, I add the regulatory rules.
…the “Azerikimya” complex of SOCAR in Sumgait. There we built and handed over the first fully integrated thermal power plant in Azerbaijan. There is further scope for further expansion of this project, as Uniper is fully committed to decarbonisation by 2035, completely phasing out coal and producing energy. Therefore, for the next energy transition, we have already created a joint working group with SOCAR to explore the potential of green hydrogen in your country. We have already commissioned a small wind power plant on Chilov Island. We see and know that the renewable energy potential is very high in the coming years. In the traditional field of energy, that is, This could be the next area of work that I mentioned for general bilateral cooperation that our governments should support in order not to stay in the natural gas and oil sector. As your Excellency mentioned, this is very important in your country and also for diversification and we wish to contribute in this area. Thank you very much.
Moderator Michael Harms: Thank you. Come on, Mr. Dohna.
Dohna York, representative of “SCT Energy” company: Dear Mr. President, thank you for your introduction. It was a very interesting speech. We are a fairly small and not so well known German company. It is a family-owned company based in Hamburg. However, we have been operating in the energy, especially oil and gas industry for over 40 years. One of the first steps we took and the work we did was related to Azerbaijan.…Since then, we have maintained our relations with SOCAR. This is especially true in the oil and gas sector….For this reason, we are active not only in Germany, but also in other countries, in the Black [Sea] and Mediterranean regions. We are doing great work in Albania, and this country is one of the main participants in the TAP [Trans Adriatic Pipeline] pipeline….We are doing great work in Albania, and this country is one of the main participants in the TAP pipeline….
President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you.
Moderator Michael Harms: Thank you. Come on, Matthias Pallutt.
Matthias Pallutt , representative of Potsdam-based Lotus Energy : Thank you very much. We are a company that develops projects in the field of renewable energy. These are mainly wind and solar energy projects. We started our operations in Germany in 2001 and then moved to other countries in a short period of time. Among the countries, there are not only European countries, but also Latin American countries. We have started working in Azerbaijan as well. Last year, we had very promising negotiations with landowners, electricity buyers and investors. We have not yet found a specific business proposal.
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Moderator Michael Harms: Thank you, Mr. Pallutt. Mr. Kasapoglu, the floor is yours.
Edison Kasapoglu, CEO of Edison Technologies and Engineering Group : Mr. President, thank you very much. Your goals and the current plans you present make a huge impression. The plans you have in front of you are really great plans.
Our company has been operating in the energy market since 2004. With our other engineering partners around the world, we mainly support large government projects. Today, Mr. President, I would like to mention three issues and I hope to hear your answer to those issues. The first issue is that after Mr. Putin approved the agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, in August 2018, we started working with Erlikid, Sinopec Engineering and Manesman companies on the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Europe through Azerbaijan. The work was carried out to a certain extent. Unfortunately, we could not go to the next stage. Here, Mr. President, I would like to ask you about the Trans-Caspian pipeline. Can this project be revived? At that time, that is, In August 2018, as I mentioned, it was even reported in the press together with the consortium that we have created a complete network for cooperation in that project. Even a very large financial institution joined the board to support the financing of this project. This is the first issue.
The second issue concerns our obligations with DESFA and Snam. This is related to the operation of receiving natural gas at the junction between Turkey and Greece. It is planned to receive several billion cubic meters of gas in the direction of Europe. Obviously, “Snam” has pipelines to European countries. I would like to know if Azerbaijan can support us in purchasing these volumes? We have already discussed with BOTAS and they said that they will support us on these volumes.
Anti-bellum 