Azerbaijan plays an important role in safeguarding energy safety of Europe. We highly estimate that, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, said at a joint briefing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on January 21 in Berlin.
She said Germany also supports the Southern Gas Corridor project.
Speaking about energy policy of Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev said the projects initiated by Azerbaijan change energy map of Europe, energy safety of which will be ensured at the expense of Azerbaijan as well.
He said in 2012 Azerbaijan initiated implementation of the trans-Anadolu project (TANAP) and in 2013 trans-Adriatic project (TAP) and implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project started last year.
“Azerbaijan has initiated all these projects and has assumed upon itself majority of costs for their implementation. We will continue cooperation with the European Union in the energy field,” said Ilham Aliyev.
President has expressed confidence that all the works will be done in time. “TANAP will be implemented in 2018 and TAP a year after it. In order to achieve that Azerbaijan and EU must establish closer cooperation in this field,” he said.
President added that the first Consultative Council of the Southern Gas Corridor will be held in Baku next month at Azerbaijan’s initiative and he expressed confidence that all the issues will be discussed at the session.
