Baku International Energy Charter Forum finished

The Baku International Energy Charter Forum was held in video conference format with about 190 representatives of high-level state officials, international organizations, energy companies, financial institutions, research centers, as well as representatives of state agencies, experts and media from about 40 countries.
The Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov, Secretary General of the Energy Charter Urban Rusnak and Director of Energy Policy, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission Ms. Cristina Lobillo Borrero delivered a speech at the forum on “Transition to renewables in power generation, transport, heating and cooling: modern challenges and trends”.
The Forum moderated by Deputy Minister of Energy Elnur Soltanov continued with speeches of high-level representatives of member and observer countries of the Energy Charter Treaty, as well as international organizations.
State officials from Albania, Romania, Great Britain, Ukraine and the Islamic Republic of Iran expressed their views on the issues discussed and wished fruitful discussions to the Forum participants.  In his speech, Hadi Soleimanpour, Secretary General of the ECO Secretariat drew attention to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict inter alia other issues. He expressed deep concern about Armenia's attacks on the energy and transport infrastructure of Azerbaijan and noted that such an aggressive approach could be detrimental to overall regional energy security, and expressed his condolences to the Government of Azerbaijan and the people of Azerbaijan for the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the ongoing conflict. Stressing the importance of peace and stability in the region in order to achieve sustainable socio-economic goals, he expressed his support for the peaceful settlement of the conflict based on the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Next session of the forum entitled "Support for Renewable Energies - legal, technical and financial aspects" was moderated by Mr. Kanat Botbaev from Energy Charter Secretariat. The session continued with speeches of representatives of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Energy Regulatory Agency under the Ministry of Energy, the SolarPower Europe, as well as the relevant ministry of the Republic of Austria. Issues related to challenges and opportunities to a more sustainable world based on renewable energy sources were reviewed, and modern policies, projects and technologies were discussed on how the world's energy sector will shape its future.
In the last session “Promoting energy efficiency – sharing best practices and lessons learnt” moderated by Deputy Minister of Azerbaijan Samir Valiyev, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, International Energy Charter and the Head of Administration of the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan Zaur Mammadov made a speech. Zaur Mammadov informed about the steps taken to ensure energy efficiency in Azerbaijan, stressed the importance of the draft laws and the adoption of these laws in the regulation of this field, and highlighted the importance of the measures envisaged in the laws to ensure efficiency directly or indirectly. In his speech, Zaur Mammadov brought to the attention of the participants of the Forum that the Armenian armed forces launched a missile at the center of Barda region, as a result of which there were casualties and injuries among the civilians.
The Forum concluded with the speeches of Deputy Minister of Energy Samir Valiyev and Secretary General of the International Energy Charter Urban Rusnak.
It should be noted that the International Energy Charter forum and the 31st Ministerial Meeting of the International Energy Charter to be held during the chairmanship of Azerbaijan to the Energy Charter Conference are scheduled in December this year in our country.