Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council joint declaration signed

Following the second Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Meeting in Baku Feb. 29, the participants of the meeting have signed a joint declaration.

The document emphasized the intention to develop and deepen prolonged strategic relations between the producers of energy resources, transit countries and consumers for reliable, secure and consistent provision of European markets with energy resources of Azerbaijan.

The document was signed by 12 ministers who took part in the meeting in the presence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, including Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

The document also approved the carrying out of legal procedures and regulative measures by these countries for the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project. It was noted that existing and future opportunities for the expansion of the project beyond the EU, including the Balkans will be evaluated. For this purpose, special interest was shown in the projects of Greece-Bulgaria and the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline inter connectors.

At the same time, the document supported the strengthening of cooperation with national and international financial institutions to finance the project. In order to resolve issues that may arise in connection with the involvement of new suppliers or transit countries, it is proposed to continue consultations at the level of bilateral and multilateral working groups.

The second Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Meeting was held in Baku on Feb. 29.

The energy ministers and representatives of various organizations from the Southern Gas Corridor member-states were participating in the meeting as well.

Maros Sefcovic, the Vice-President of the Energy Union, Berat Albayrak, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Amos Hochstein, US Special Envoy for Energy Affairs of the US Department of State, Edmund Hosker, Director General for International Energy Issues of the UK Energy and Climate Change Department, Claudio De Vincenti, State Secretary of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic and others were also participating in the event. (Trend.az)