President Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijan does not intend to compete with anyone in gas supplies to Europe

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 25 / Trend / Azerbaijan has very large gas reserves - currently country's proven gas reserves amount to 2.6 trillion cubic meters, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at a press conference in Baku, answering a question of the Latvian Independent Television's reporter the about Azerbaijani gas supplies to European markets. According to President Aliyev, this figure can increase, as larger gas reserves are expected in the new discovered fields. "Thus, Azerbaijan should become a very important gas exporting country for many years, decades to come. Of course, to achieve it, different diversified gas pipelines are needed," he noted. The President noted that Azerbaijan transports its gas to all neighboring countries except Armenia, adding that new opportunities should be created in the future to enter the European markets. "I believe that projects implemented by Azerbaijan will be successful. One of such projects, the most memorable one in recent years, is the TANAP project, which has been initiated by Azerbaijan," Ilham Aliyev said. He noted that as a result of the implementation of the TANAP project, Azerbaijani gas should be brought to the borders of Europe, after which it will enter the European gas network. The President underscored that all initiatives of Azerbaijan are supported by the European Union. "In this hall, two years ago, we signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation with European Commission President Mr. Barroso. This memorandum covered the energy issues, and shortly after the active work began. Therefore the market is the European market, and the resources will come from Azerbaijan," the President explained, adding that backed with great history, a successful cooperation with transit countries is carried out by Azerbaijan. The Head of Azerbaijani State said that Azerbaijan has already made good progress with implementation of major oil and gas projects with neighboring countries, Turkey and Georgia. "Therefore, I don't see any obstacles. Considering that Europe is interested in diversification of gas supplies, I believe there should be no obstacles. As for the question of competition - we don't intend to compete with anyone, and we are just looking to transport our natural resources on the markets that we consider acceptable," the President said, noting that that the principles adopted by the European Union should play a major role in these issues. President Ilham Aliyev said that these are the principles of free, fair competition and market economy. He added that the European market is liberal, is regulated by laws, and is very attractive for Azerbaijan. "In this issue the interests of both Europe and Azerbaijan coincide, that is why we consider our relationship as a strategic partnership in the energy sector. That is, here a supplier country is Azerbaijan, transit countries are Georgia and Turkey, while consumer countries are members of the European Union," the President explained. He noted that there are no disagreements in the issues of energy resources supply and energy security between these countries. "There have been some delays during a certain period of time, and to fill this vacuum, I would like to mention that again, Azerbaijan proposed the Trans-Anatolian Project (TANAP)," he said. "I am sure that we, as always, will achieve great success in implementation of this project." Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az