Baku, Washington DC to Discuss Next Steps in Energy Cooperation

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has been invited to the BRICS summit in October, which will be held in Kazan, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Ryabkov told reporters, TASS reports. "We support Azerbaijan's application. We believe that it is a strong candidate that, if it joins BRICS, will undoubtedly bring additional dynamism," Ryabkov said. It should be noted that on August 20, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ayhan Hajiyev stated that Azerbaijan had officially applied to join BRICS. This news was also posted on BRICS’s official “X” (formerly Twitter) account. On August 21, Vladimir Jabarov, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, mentioned that Azerbaijan's official application to join BRICS could be considered at the summit in Kazan. BRICS is an intergovernmental organization founded in 2006, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

Issues of cooperation between Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) and the German company “Uniper” were discussed in Baku, according to SOCAR’s press service. "President Rovshan Najaf met with a delegation from the German company led by the member of the board and Chief Commercial Officer Carsten Popping. The meeting reviewed opportunities for further strengthening the existing strategic partnership between SOCAR and “Uniper” on a broad range of energy business and green agenda topics," the press release noted. Specifically, the parties highlighted the successful implementation of the agreement on the purchase and sale of natural gas extracted from the “Shah Deniz” field and discussed expanding cooperation in the field of gas supply. In addition to the oil and gas sector, the parties exchanged views on developing cooperation in energy transition, improving energy efficiency, and other mutually interesting issues.

In the coming weeks and months, meetings on COP29 at technical and political levels will intensify, said EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra. The Commissioner noted that at COP29, ministers and leaders should:

The first components of next-generation wind turbines, brought to Azerbaijan by ACWA Power, have been delivered to the Baku Shipyard. According to the press service of the Baku Shipyard, the wind turbine components will be unloaded at the Baku Shipyard’s temporary storage site and then transported for the installation of the Khizi-Abseron wind farm with a capacity of 240 MW, which will be built in Azerbaijan in the next phase. It should be noted that construction work on the Khizi-Abseron wind farm project began at the end of 2022.