3rd Azerbaijan-Türkiye Energy Forum and Nakhchivan-Green Energy Zone International Conference were held

The 3rd Azerbaijan-Türkiye Energy Forum and Nakhchivan - Green Energy Zone International Conference were held in Nakhchivan under the co-chairmanship of Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Türkiye Alparslan Bayraktar. Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Fuad Najafli, Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Türkiye Alparslan Bayraktar, as well as Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mariam Mohammed Almheiri delivered speeches at the opening ceremony.

Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Fuad Najafli spoke about the importance of fraternal and allied relations between the two countries in ensuring stability and energy security in the region. He noted that the holding of the Forum and Conference in Nakhchivan will contribute to the process of transformation of the Autonomous Republic into a green energy zone: The implementation of green energy projects will turn Nakhchivan into an energy exporter in the coming years and further increase its strategic importance.”

Emphasizing that Nakhchivan has always been at the center of Azerbaijani-Turkish relations, Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that the policy pursued by the presidents of both countries, Mr. Ilham Aliyev and Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with unshakable confidence and trust in each other, and the strength of the Azerbaijani-Turkish fellowship, which has no equal in history under their leadership, has raised our brother-friendly relations to the level of alliance. It was noted that a new stage of development aimed at strengthening the energy security of Nakhchivan and turning it into a green energy zone is a new page in Azerbaijan-Türkiye energy cooperation: “Recently, the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Türkiye in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Igdir-Nakhchivan gas pipeline, which will supply 500 million cubic meters of gas, as well as in the ceremony of signing the cooperation document in the field of transmitting the power generated from the renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan and Türkiye once again showed that our countries are determined in jointly implementing the new strategic course and their political wills are decisive in the process."

It was noted that cooperation with international energy companies within the plans to develop a generation capacity of 1500 MW on wind and solar energy and export at least 1000 MW will turn Nakhchivan into a source and route of generation and export of green energy. In this regard, it was noted that cooperation with the companies TotalEnergies and Nobel Energy on the construction of solar power plants with a total capacity of 650 MW and the export of electricity to Türkiye. The plans for implementing the solar power plant with a capacity of 150 MW at the initial stage with Masdar, solar power plants with Czech Engineering, as well as green energy projects with the German company Notus were brought to the attention.

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said in his speech: “As Türkiye and Azerbaijan, we want to develop major infrastructure projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and TANAP natural gas pipelines, which have made significant contributions to the energy supply security of our region and Europe also in various fields such as renewable energy, power interconnector projects and mining in the new era.”

UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam Mohammed Almheiri spoke about the importance of Masdar's activities in Azerbaijan: "My country will soon receive world leaders, industry pioneers and climate experts at COP28. The discussions held at the "Nakhchivan - Green Energy Zone" International Conference will contribute to the COP28 discussions to be held in Dubai later this year.”

The Forum and Conference continued in parallel. Plenary sessions on State Policy in the Field of Energy Transition, Vision and Contribution of Companies to the Energy Transition, Nakhchivan as a Green Energy Zone: Potential Opportunities and Projects, Opportunities for Export of Nakhchivan's Green Energy Potential to Türkiye and European Markets, Conceptual Approaches in the Field of Renewable Energy Sources in Nakhchivan and Opportunities for Developing National Content, Opportunities for Financing Green Energy Projects in Nakhchivan were held.

Deputy Minister of Economy Sahib Mammadov, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Rauf Hajiyev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Bakhtiyar Mammadov, President of SOCAR Rovshan Najaf, Director of the Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Agency Javid Abdullayev, Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan Energy Regulatory Agency Samir Akhundov, Acting Vice-President of Azerenergy OJSC Vugar Shahmuradov, Chief of the State Energy Service of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Namig Pashayev, as well as the authorized representatives from BOTAŞ, TPAO, TEİAŞ, ACWA Power, TotalEnergies, bp, Masdar, China Gezhouba Group Overseas Investment, Nobel Energy, Turkish Wind Energy Association, MTA, EPİAŞ, TÜREB, GÜNDER, TEPSCO, Turkish Energy Trade Association, McKinsey & Company, DTİK, International Finance Corporation, Islamic Corporation under the Islamic Development Bank, World Bank, Asian Development Bank made speeches.

In the end, Protocol of the 3rd Azerbaijan-Türkiye Energy Forum, as well as the Road Map to be implemented jointly by TEİAŞ and Azerenergy OJSC in 2023-2025 in connection with the implementation of the project Türkiye-Azerbaijan Interaction through Nakhchivan, Memorandum of Understanding between the Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Agency and A-Z Czech Engineering LLC on cooperation on implementing the projects on renewable energy sources in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, investigating the possibilities of building a transmission network to export the power to Türkiye, and Calendar of events (Road Map) for Battery Energy Storage System (Bess) project and 200 MW onshore wind project between the Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Agency under the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and ACWA Power were signed.