9 September 2008
APA-Economics

A two-day conference titled “Oil and Gas Potential in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan: Energy, Economy, Ecology: Partnership Strategy” kicked off in Baku on September 9. The event brought together 420 representatives from 27 countries.

Baymurad Khodjamuhamedov, President of Turkmengaz State Company, led a 58-people delegation to Baku to attend the conference.

Yagub Eyyubov, First Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, said the main objective of the conference is to further deepen cooperation between the two countries. According to him, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan made $53 million over the past year.

“We are not satisfied with this level because there is good potential in terms of geographical proximity to further expand our relations,” he added.

Ali Asadov, Azerbaijani President’s Aide for Economic Issues, read out President Ilham Aliyev’s letter to the participants of the conference.

According to him, relations between the two countries moved to a new stage of development after Turkmen President’s visit to Azerbaijan.

Baymurad Khodjamuhamedov said there is a need for the strengthening of cooperation in a number of strategic fields such as oil- gas sectors.

“We want to build long-term cooperation with Azerbaijan. Above all, we are also improving investment environment in our country. A new legal framework has been developed and existing laws have been improved in Turkmenistan,” he added.

According to him, more than 850 oil-gas fields have been identified in Turkmenistan and more than $45 billion is earned from these fields. He said there are over 1 000 promising hydrocarbon structures in Turkmenistan.

Natig Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Industry and Energy, said the conference primarily focused on the energy security.

He told reporters that the issue of Azerbaijan’s possible role in exportation of Turkmen energy resources to Europe will also be discussed at the conference. “We are going to discuss the construction of pipelines and what we can do in the Caspian Sea. We have energy corridors that are more reliable than other corridors. Through this conference, Azerbaijan will be able to demonstrate its potential to Europe,” he noted.

He also said that certain documents on cooperation will probably be signed between companies and state bodies.