Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 21
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The trade and investment relations between Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom are very strong, UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Charles Hendry said at a press conference on November 21.
According to Hendry, the United Kingdom is responsible for more than half of the foreign direct investment into Azerbaijan's oil and gas sector.
"But even in the non-oil and gas sector, the UK is the biggest source of investment into Azerbaijan," Hendry said.
He said that the decision which has been made by Shah Deniz consortium on the pipeline which would supply Caspian gas to Europe will be a great opportunity for new investment from the UK and other countries into Azerbaijan.
A consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development announced its choice of the TAP project in late June, as a gas transportation route to the European markets. The gas, which will be produced in the second phase of Shah Deniz field, is considered as the main source of the project.
TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and then to Western Europe. The initial capacity of the TAP pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters per year.
"We support companies looking to make those decisions that will be milestone in the contacts between the two countries. We want to see many other companies coming to Azerbaijan as well," Hendry said.
Hendry noted that he had got familiarized with the White City project in Azerbaijan and said there are companies in the UK who would like to take part in such projects.
Architectural Baku White City project claiming to become new modern center of Baku is being implemented under the decree of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on 'Plan of complex measures on improving ecological situation in the Republic of Azerbaijan'.
Azerbaijani specialists as well as such famous companies as "Atkins", "Foster + Рartners" (UK) and "F+A Architects" (U.S.) participate in the implementation of the Baku White City project.
According to Hendry, Azerbaijan is keen to develop tourism industry and British companies could be part of this process.
"If Azerbaijani government is looking for international partnerships in particular areas, then those would be areas which we are focused on," he said.