Caspian Energy (CE): Your Excellency, Georgia and Azerbaijan have been long strategic partners in the energy field. How would you assess the contribution of the Azerbaijan-Georgia partnership into the global energy security? What has a positive or negative impact on the cooperation of the two countries in this field?
Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia: Georgia and Azerbaijan are located between the Caspian and Black Seas and represent a natural bridge and the shortest route linking the EU with Central Asia and the wider East Asia. Furthermore, Georgia and Azerbaijan have been strategic partners not only thanks to their geography and strategic location, but also due to the continuous struggle for their statehood and territorial integrity that has forged their identity. The Georgian and Azerbaijani people are Caucasian nations with common values and close mentalities.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia and Azerbaijan have successfully upheld an opportunity to develop upstream and midstream oil (Baku-Supsa and BTC) and gas (SCP) pipelines that have linked Azerbaijani oil and gas resources to world markets and thus contribute to global energy security. This is a real success story.
A close Georgia–Azerbaijan interaction in the energy field is a very good example of successful upstream-downstream country cooperation. SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state oil company, is a major supplier of oil products and the main supplier of natural gas to Georgia. Apart from that, SOCAR is one of the largest taxpayers in Georgia and investors in the energy sector. We appreciate very much SOCAR’s sponsorship of various projects.
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