Azerbaijan, Baku, March 3 / Trend /
Strengthening political relations today, Azerbaijan and Turkey create great opportunities in the economic sphere, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Turkish TRT TV channel.
"With regard to the energy issues, today Turkish-Azerbaijani energy cooperation is important not only for the region, but also for the world. Our joint initiatives - the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, Trans-Anadolu gas project - all this will make our unity even more cohesive and at the same time, will further enhance our influence opportunities in the region and the world," President Aliyev underscored.
Azerbaijan has huge oil and gas reserves, he said. "Turkey is a country with enormous economic power. Azerbaijani oil and gas passing through Turkish territory, will ensure energy security of Turkey. At the same time, our resources will be transported to other countries through Turkey. Combining these sources, transit opportunities and economic power, we will be able to maintain out stand on any issue, as today the world and Europe bring energy security issues into the forefront. We know that sources in the Caspian Sea basin, will play a great role in the future, and Azerbaijan again is in the first row in this matter," he said.
President Aliyev believes that strategic energy projects have an impact on other spheres, and the two countries are constructing the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. "I hope we will open the railway next year. Thus, we will connect the world. Turkey and Azerbaijan will connect the continents. Such is our geography. Our power grows, we also have energy sources and political will. We should only and only to further strengthen this cooperation," he underlined.
President Aliyev has no doubt that the Turkish and Azerbaijani peoples' wisdom will not allow making at least one step back from this strategic cooperation in the future. "Since our policy is based on the will of our peoples. Our peoples are fraternal peoples, they are linked with each other. The events around France and commemoration of the Khojaly genocide victims once again demonstrated it to us and the world. Like it or not, everyone should take this unity into account. I hope that we will further strengthen our bilateral strategic cooperation in the coming years. There is a lot of work to do in the future. We are always in touch and we try coordinating our policies in the international plane as well," President Aliyev said.