WASHINGTON, U.S., March 10. Azerbaijan is working with its U.S. partners in exploring the new areas of cooperation, said Orkhan Zeynalov, Deputy Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan, Trend's special corespondent reports.
He made the remarks during the U.S.-Azerbaijan Trade and Business Conference, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC).
He noted that Azerbaijan will continue to supply natural gas, to Europe and its partners.
“In January, we have expanded our gas geography to Germany and Austria. Now the number of countries receiving Azerbaijani gas has increased to 16. Azerbaijan is one of the leading providers of pipeline gas in the world. Also, I would like to mention the continuous bipartisan support of the United States, also with President Trump's leadership for realizing the historic Southern Gas Corridor project. We all know that during his first term, he was instrumental in finalizing the last missing segment of the Southern Gas Corridor, the Trans-Adriatic pipeline,” Zeynalov added.
He pointed out that today, Azerbaijan is also working with its U.S. partners in exploring the new areas of cooperation, the excellent model cooperation with SOCAR could be a historical breakthrough with the huge reserves in that field.
“We think that there is a lot of opportunities in the connectivity from Central Asia in the South Caucasus between the Europe and the Middle East. We think that interconnectors also provides very good opportunity for the U.S. companies to engage, both as contractors, service providers, technology providers, and also investors. We also think that the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity with its different components, including energy, electricity, oil and gas, is a historic chance for the region to prosper for the decades to come, and Azerbaijan is willing to work closely with its U.S. partners to realize this ambition,” he said.
The deputy minister believes that there are a number of opportunities in other areas.
“Within the next three years, 2 gigawatts of green energy will be integrated, and by 2033, we're expecting 6 to 7 gigawatts of additional energy, which can be exported or used within the data centers. Azerbaijan has a cheap energy comparing with other countries in the region. This is only corridor where Azerbaijan is a centerpiece is an unsanctioned geography, which provides additional opportunity for the partners. But we also think that there is a huge resources, the critical minerals, energy resources of Kazakhstan, other partners in Central Asia. With the facilitation of the United States and the leadership and the transit corridors of Azerbaijan, we can bring those resources to the strategic markets in the Europe, in the Middle East, and beyond,” he added.