International Energy Charter Forum was held in Baku

International Energy Charter Forum was held in Baku on October 24. The Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov and Secretary General of the Energy Charter Urban Rusnak delivered a speech at the forum on “Enabling Energy Transformation through Technology and Policy Innovations”.

The Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov noted that this forum was held in Azerbaijan for the first time within the chairmanship of Azerbaijan in the International Energy Charter Conference in 2020. The minister said the selection of Baku for large-scale energy forums and conferences is based on its historic and modern role in the global energy architecture. Historically, Baku is the energy capital of the world and one of the leading energy centers in modern times.

Highlighting that energy development processes are not limited to national borders and require global cooperation, the Minister appreciated Energy Charter as one of the important collaboration platforms, which contributed to global energy security by encouraging the establishment of effective frameworks for addressing energy issues at the national, regional and international levels, and for relations between energy production, export and import, as well as transit countries, competitive markets, and principles of sustainable development.

In his speech the Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov highlighted the current energy transformation in the energy sector thanks to the broad use of the renewable energy and energy efficiency through the promotion of the technologies in the global scale. Speaking about “Southern Gas Corridor” energy diversification project, the Minister noted that since July of last year more than 3 mlrd. m3 gas has been supplied to Turkey through the TANAP. The status of implementation of the activities on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which is the main channel for the delivery of gas to Europe is close to 90%: “2020 will be the year when the diversification plan that Europe has been discussing and trying to achieve for years. Deeming Azerbaijan worthy to the chairmanship of the International Energy Charter for such date is the appreciation of the role that the Southern Gas Corridor is playing. It confirms the expected contribution of the Southern Gas

Corridor to the priorities such as the diversification and the decarbonisation of the continent.

Underlining the current profound reforms being carried out in the energy sector under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Minister stated that the broad use of the renewable energy sources and involvement of the private foreign investments to such process, transition to the liberal market model, which is based on the competition in the energy sector, thus achieving the sustainable energy system and performance of the obligation of environmental protection are the main goals. The Energy Charter Secretariat is providing the Ministry of Energy with the necessary support in such process.

Then, Secretary-General of Energy Charter Urban Rusnak delivered a speech. Secretary-General noted the importance of aligning efforts to address the issues of energy access, growing energy demand, global warming and sustainable growth. Urban Rusnak spoke about the steps to be taken during Azerbaijan's presidency, as well as cooperation between our country and the Energy Charter.

“The Energy Charter Secretariat is supporting Azerbaijan in elaboration of relevant legislation on energy efficiency in line with the best EU and international practices. Last year, the first draft of the Law on Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency was completed. This year we have started the development of the first National Energy Efficiency Action Plan of Azerbaijan which is expected to be finalised by the end of 2019 and to be discussed with the relevant authorities in early 2020.”

Forum continued its work on deployment of renewables and the role of technologies, deployment of renewables and regulatory frameworks, promoting energy efficiency – sharing best practices and lessons learnt, regional dimension of supply security at the forum, which will consist of four sessions.

About 200 people including high-level officials of 13 countries – Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Austria, China, Greece, Albania, Croatia, Spain, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Yemen, 42 international organizations, local and foreign energy companies, representatives of state bodies, as well as representatives of embassies of foreign countries in Azerbaijan, experts and media participated at the forum.

It should be mentioned that Azerbaijan has been cooperating with the International Energy Charter consisting of 55 member states for more than 20 years. The accession of Azerbaijan to Hague II document of the International Energy Charter in 2018 launched a new stage in the relations with the organization.