“Moldova intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the field of natural gas supply,” the Azeri media reported, quoting a press release of the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan, after Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, last week took part in the eighth ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Consultative Council in Baku, IPN reports.
The meeting last year was held online for pandemic reasons, while this year it involved, besides the Moldovan official, EU Commissioners, high-ranking officials from the U.S., the UK, Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, and Turkmenistan, with the relevant measures being observed.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Andrei Spînu had a meeting with the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov, who noted that his country has the potential needed to export Azeri gas and to extend the Southern Gas Corridor. Azerbaijan is ready to initiate a dialogue on the issue with the interested sides, noted the quoted source. For his part, Andrei Spânu informed the Azeri minister about the natural gas supply situation in Moldova, underlining the prospects of the Moldovan-Azeri cooperation in this field.
The Southern Gas Corridor is an initiative of the European Commission for a natural gas supply route from Caspian and Middle Eastern regions to Europe, whose goal is to reduce Europe’s dependency on Russian gas and add diverse sources of energy supply. The route from Azerbaijan to Europe consists of the South Caucasus Pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. The ministerial meetings of the Consultative Council are annually held in Azerbaijan, underscoring this country’s role in the project.
