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| Bajram Begaj and Ilham Aliyev |
The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, declared in Tirana that his country plans to double the supply of gas to Europe, increasing its energy security.
He emphasized during his first visit to the Albanian capital that the cooperation memorandum, signed with the European Union in July, foresees the doubling of Europe's gas supply in the next 5 years.
Mr. Aliyev said that this gas will pass through Albania and will increase the continent's energy security.
He added during the visit to Tirana that Azerbaijan and Albania are members of the TAP project, as well as in the implementation of the southern gas corridor, where they have cooperated very successfully.
During the joint conference with the President of Albania, Bajram Begaj, Mr. Aliyev said that Azerbaijan's natural gas is contributing to Europe's energy security.
"In July, we had a commission meeting between the EU and Azerbaijan, where a strategic cooperation memorandum was signed. By 2027, based on this memorandum, we plan to double the supply of gas to Europe. This gas will pass through Albania and this will provide additional support and contribution to Europe's energy security", said Mr. Aliyev.
He emphasized that the natural gas reserves in Azerbaijan are very rich and currently the two gas pipelines TAP and TANAP, although they have just been inaugurated in the last two years, can be discussed to double their capacities since there is a need for this product.
President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is ready to participate as an investor in the construction of gas infrastructure in Albania, which does not have a well-developed distribution network.
While the President of Albania, Bajram Begaj, said that the cooperation for the TAP project was successful and the continuation of this cooperation is more necessary because Albania aims to return from a gas transit country to its beneficiary and within the year 2030 it must build the infrastructure of gasification.
"The "IAP", Adriatic-Ionian gas pipeline, - through TAP, - connects Albania with Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia, turning our country into a regional distributor and diversifier of gas; of geostrategic importance at the regional and European level. Albania's gasification process opens up new opportunities for cooperation. We welcome the assistance from the Azerbaijani side for raising the necessary human capacities and we believe that the companies from Azerbaijan will use the spaces for cooperation in this sector, in Albania, Kosovo and the region", said Mr. Begaj.
Azerbaijan has proposed opening an embassy in Albania, as a result of the expanded cooperation between the two countries, which established diplomatic relations 30 years ago.
Albania hopes very much to benefit from the interconnection with the international gas supply network TAP, a part of which passes through its territory and started to operate at the end of 2020.
But the lack of an internal gas distribution network has temporarily restrained these possibilities.