BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. A ceremony to
inaugurate the Fuel Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) has been
held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a
speech on the ceremony

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev: Thanks very a lot for this
introduction. Pricey President of Bulgaria Radev, pricey President of
the European Fee, Madam Ursula Von Der Leyen, Pricey
Presidents, Prime Ministers, girls and gents. To begin with, I
wish to specific gratitude to President Radev for inviting me
to attend this historic ceremony. The IGB undertaking will play an
necessary position in strengthening vitality safety of Europe and
diversification of gasoline provides. Power safety is a part of
nationwide safety of each nation and the present geopolitical
state of affairs on the planet proves it as soon as once more

For nearly two years, Azerbaijani gasoline is on the European market
and now in Bulgaria. The Southern Fuel Hall is likely one of the
largest infrastructure tasks within the continent, which modified the
vitality map of Europe. Azerbaijan is proud to be the initiator of
the Southern Fuel Hall. The Southern Fuel Hall transports gasoline
to shoppers by a brand new route, but additionally from a brand new supply. To date,
the one supply is the Shah Daniz gasoline subject located within the
Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, however a number of different new gasoline
fields of Azerbaijan will begin manufacturing quickly and can contribute
to rising the volumes of our provide

Azerbaijan is, for a few years, a dependable oil provider to
worldwide, primarily European markets, and now grew to become a
dependable gasoline provider. Additionally, I wish to touch upon what Madam
President mentioned about renewables. That is additionally a part of our strategic
partnership Memorandum of Understanding on vitality which was signed
this July between the European Fee and Azerbaijan

So, quickly I’m positive Azerbaijan will turn into a dependable electrical energy
provider to Europe and the confirmed reserves of our wind potential
solely within the Caspian Sea is 157 gigawatt and now we’re already
discussing with our European companions tips on how to carry this vitality to
the European continent

Final yr, our gasoline export was round 19 billion cubic meters,
out of which 8.2 billion to Europe, and that was a rise of 40%
as compared with the earlier yr. This yr, we are going to enhance
our export as much as greater than 22 billion cubic meters and 11.5 billion
cubic meters will go to European shoppers. As I already mentioned, this
July we signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the European
Fee through the go to of Madam Ursula von der Leyen to
Azerbaijan, which is a really substantial doc. Based mostly on that by
2027 we’re planning to extend, to double our provide of pure
gasoline to Europe, at the very least to double, and we have now all of the potential to
do it

We began already consultations with our companions with respect
to the growth of TANAP from 16 to 32 billion cubic meters and
TAP from 10 to twenty billion cubic meters, as a result of with out that it
can be troublesome to supply further provides

In conclusion, I wish to congratulate the folks of
Bulgaria, the folks of Greece and all of us with this historic
occasion, the completion of this necessary undertaking and need IGB a protracted
and profitable life

Thanks!……..