Baku, Azerbaijan, May 12
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Azerbaijan is becoming an important player in the region and is an important partner of Turkey, said Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan May 12.
He made the remarks at the B20 Regional Consultation Forum held in Baku.
Currently, the Business 20 (B20) is chaired by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey. The forum is being held as part of the G20.
"Azerbaijan's economy saw it greatest development over the years of independence, which is of great importance not only for the country, but also for the entire region," said Babacan. "Azerbaijan's participation in the G20 summit will further strengthen its role in world arena."
This year Turkey is chairing the G20. The Group of Twenty (G20) is a leading forum for discussion of global economic and financial cooperation. It includes the 20 largest national economies - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the US, Turkey, France, South Korea, Republic of South Africa, Japan and the EU.
Azerbaijan will be represented as a full member at all events to take place at the G20 platform in November 2015 in Antalya under Turkey's chairmanship.
Babacan also said that the policy of occupation has alienated Armenia from the development and participation in energy projects realized in the region.
"Turkey, as always, supports Baku in the issue of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," said the Turkish deputy prime minister.
He also noted that the joint energy projects, such as the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), are further reinforcing the role of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the region.
Aside from that, he said, the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be completed by late this year.
The TANAP project envisages the transportation of gas of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field from the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey. TANAP's initial capacity is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest of the volume to Europe. Turkey will receive gas in 2018. The gas will be supplied to Europe in early 2020 after the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is constructed.
BP and the TANAP consortium signed March 13 a shareholder agreement, according to which, BP will become one of the shareholders of TANAP. The agreement is one of the main documents for BP's ownership of a stake in the TANAP project.
Following the completion of a legal implementation procedure, TANAP's shareholders list will be as follows: SOCAR - 58 percent, Botas - 30 percent and BP - 12 percent.