Today, Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, is in Baku, Azerbaijan, to co-chair the 9th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council with the Azeri Minister of Energy, Paviz Shahbazov, and in the presence of Azeri President, Ilham Aliyev, and Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis. Her opening speech is available online. At the end of the meeting, the Commissioner will hold a press conference with the Minister which you can watch on EbS. A joint press release will also be published here.
At the height of the energy crisis last year, the Southern Gas Corridor proved to be a crucial source of piped gas supply to the EU, with deliveries increasing by more than 40%, from around 8 billion cubic meters in 2021 to 11.4 in 2022. In a Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Partnership in the Field of Energy signed last year, the EU and Azerbaijan committed to working together to double the capacity of the SGC to deliver at least 20 billion cubic metres to the EU annually by 2027. This project forms part of the REPowerEU Plan, which is the EU’s roadmap to get rid of Russian fossil fuel imports as soon as possible.
In Baku, the Commissioner will also attend the first meeting of the steering committee of the Agreement on Strategic Partnership in the field of Green Energy Development and Transmission between the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania. Last year, President von der Leyen participated in the signature event in Bucharest.
Today, Commissioner Simson will hold bilateral meetings with several representatives of the Azeri government, including President Aliyev; Minister of Energy, Parviz Shahbazov; and Economy Minister, Mikayil Jabbarov. She will also meet bilaterally with the Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Fatih Dönmez.
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Details
- Publication date
- 3 February 2023
- Author
- Directorate-General for Energy