Opening speech by Ilham Aliyev at the second meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

Dear guests,

I would like to greet you all in Azerbaijan, and express my gratitude to you for participating in the 2nd Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor.

Today’s meeting is very important, we will review what has been done during the last year, and, of course, we will plan our program for 2016.

The first advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor held a year ago in Baku was our attempt to create coordination between all the members of the project. And this attempt was very successful.

During this year we had numerous meetings in bilateral and multilateral formats and the level of coordination and cooperation of today shows that we are on the right track. One of the important achievements of 2015 was a groundbreaking ceremony and beginning of the implementation of TANAP project in Turkey, the project of Kars last year. With the presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan we participated in the ceremony. As you know TANAP project was instrumental in the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project.

Everything goes according to the schedule, we are on the right track. And also among the achievements of 2015, I would mention particularly coordination of our efforts. We are now working in a big team, a team of many countries and, of course, the level of cooperation, coordination and mutual trust is important in the implementation of this large-scale project.

Southern Gas Corridor is a large-scale infrastructure and energy project of Europe. Large gas reserves of Azerbaijan so far are the only resource base for Southern Gas Corridor, particularly Shahdeniz, which is one of the largest gas fields of the world.

But I hope that there will be other sources of supply. We are building a pipeline capable of transporting large volumes of natural gas and I think the future plans and achievements will depend on the level of mutual trust between us.

I think that today we already have a very solid format of cooperation. I’d like to express gratitude to the governments of all the countries involved in the project. I’d like to express gratitude to the European Commission and the government of the United States for their valuable contribution to the implementation of this project.

Southern Gas Corridor is a project of energy security. Today we will talk about energy security. We understand that it is part of national security of countries. Energy resources, diversification are a key factor in industrial and economic development of any country. And those countries which are rich with natural resources, of course, they are a safe side, they do not depend on external supplies, but at the same time they need markets. They need long-term markets which are regulated by legislation, markets which can absorb the volumes producers can supply.

And we, I think, here in the project of Southern Gas Corridor have a very good balance of interests between producers, transit countries, at the same time consumers. And I think the successful implementation of our plans in the coming two or three years will also demonstrate that this project has a very good potential for the future.

I remember when Azerbaijan signed back in 1994 a contract with the major oil companies of the world on the development of large oil field Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli we thought that the implementation of that project and building the oil pipelines to Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea would mean that we have completed our task.

But now after 22 years since that historical day we see that we are still in the process. We have a lot of achievements, I would say in the energy sector Azerbaijan’s government implemented all its promises and achieved all what it planned. But we are still in the process because one project brings another one. We already created a corridor and then used this corridor for other projects. That is how the project of delivering natural gas to Georgia and Turkey also started to be implemented. We added to that project the railroad connection between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, which hopefully this year will be inaugurated. And it leads to regional cooperation, and broad cooperation between different countries of Eurasia.

Energy security again is today on the top of agenda of world politics, international organizations. In the beginning of this year I participated in Davos Economic Forum and Munich Security Conference. Energy security in both of these most important international conferences of the world was on agenda.

And, of course, Azerbaijan, the country which has demonstrated strong commitment to its energy policy, the country which always advocated for free competition, market economy, cooperation, not confrontation in the energy field, plays its important role in energy diversification, energy security. And at the same time I think it demonstrates our reasonable policy in the implementation of this project.

Energy factor should never be part of any kind of a political initiative or political demand. We need to separate energy cooperation from political format and only in this case we can achieve success. And I think that the cooperation which we established in this format demonstrates that we are committed to the implementation of the project of Southern Gas Corridor. For Azerbaijan this means that for many-many years ahead, for decades Azerbaijan will benefit from sales of natural gas in the quantities Azerbaijan can produce. At the same time, we will create a very strong cooperation between the members of the project. And this cooperation will lead to achievements in areas related to other sectors of economy.

This project also is important in relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan. Energy security is an important element of our cooperation.

So for our country the benefits of this project are obvious. And I am sure that all the countries which are represented here in this room will have the same. We will achieve what we need and in good atmosphere of friendship and partnership. And I think that friendship and partnership is crucial for the implementation of the corridor.

At the same time, I am sure that today at the meeting of the Advisory Council you will also raise the issues which need to be resolved in 2016. 2016 is an important year for the implementation of this project and we should, of course, look at the issues from the point of view of timely implementation. There can be some delays, there can be some internal obstacles, but I think the governments of our countries will continue to use all the authority to overcome these obstacles.

Each country is responsible for the implementation of the project on its territory, and I think that 2016 will be an important year from this point of view. Last year we already made the substantial progress. I think the public opinion in our countries also positively, in general, assessed the importance of this project and with this strong partnership and cooperation, I think, we will meet the targets. The implementation of TANAP project is now in a very active phase, and, I am sure, that it will be implemented on time, maybe even before the schedule. And the same, of course, we would like to see with respect to the implementation of Trans-Adriatic project. I hope that this year the construction will start, and in coordination with the production and construction of South Caucasus Gas pipeline we will achieve our goal.

We are united in the implementation of this project and the presence of our guests and the representation of the high political level here today shows that all our governments and all our partners – we pursue the same goal to implement Southern Gas Corridor historic project of the 21st century on time and with maximum benefits to all of the participants.

Once again I would like to thank you for your contribution and participation in today’s meeting and express my feeling that we will achieve good success and good progress today.

Thank you.