The Fifth Ministerial Meeting will be held tomorrow within the framework of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council

The preparation works for the 5th Ministerial Meeting within the framework of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, which will be held in Baku on February 20, have been completed. The number of countries participating in the meeting has become cleared.  The Commissioner for Budget and Human resources policy of the European Commission, Gunter Oettinger, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, Fatih Donmez, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natela Turnavya, the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Italy, Andrea Cioffi, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Greece, Mikhail Veriopoulos, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania, Shkrely Artan, and the Minister of Energy of Bulgaria, Temenujka Petkova will participate at this meeting of the Advisory Council.

United States of America will be represented by the Deputy of the State Secretary Assistant on Energy Issues, Sandra Oudkirk, while Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan Baroness Emma Nicholson will represent the United Kingdom.

Countries such as Serbia, Hungary and San Marino will attend the Advisory Council for the first time this year. Serbia will be represented by the Deputy Minister of Mining and Energy, Mirjana Filipovic, Hungary by the Ambassador on Special Tasks of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Hungary, Pal Sagvari, and San Marino by the Director of Economic Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Dario Galassi.

Croatia's Minister of Environment and Energy, Tomislav Chorić, Montenegro’s Chief Energy Officer of the Ministry of Energy, Marko Redulovic and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mato Francičevic will also attend the event. The adviser of the President of Turkmenistan, Yakhshigeldi Kakayev, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy of Romania, Lulian Robert Tudorake are also among the participants.

Among the participants of the event, representatives of BP, TANAP, TAP, SNAM, Fluxys, LNG Croatia, Plinacro, ICGB AD and Transgaz will also take part.

International financial institutions which will be represented during the event include the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Multilateral Investment Trust Agency (MIGA).

The Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council will continue with three plenary sessions after the opening ceremony and the welcoming speeches. At the first session, reports on the work carried out on all segments of the Southern Gas Corridor will be brought to the attention. The second plenary session moderated by Commissioner Gunter Oettinger and Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov will be attended by ministers of the countries involved in the project. The third plenary session is dedicated to the prospects of expanding the Southern Gas Corridor project with the connecting pipelines.

Signing of the Joint Declaration, as well as a press conference, will be held by the participants of the Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.

The first meeting of the Ministers within the framework of the Southern Gas Corridor took place on February 12, 2015, the second meeting on 29 February 2016, the third meeting on 23 February 2017, and the fourth meeting was held last year on February 15.