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Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to Intensify Cooperation in Energy: Ambassador

Business Materials 22 April 2008 13:26 (UTC +04:00)
Azerbaijan and   Kazakhstan to Intensify Cooperation in Energy: Ambassador

Kazakhstan, Astana, 22 April / corr. Trend K. Konirova/ Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in the field of energy will intensify further, Latif Gandilov, the Ambassador plenipotentiary and extraordinary of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan said.

Energy will be one of the priorities on the agenda of the next meeting of the inter-government commission to be held on 23 April in Astana. The government delegation of Azerbaijan headed by Heydar Babayev, the minister of economic development is expected to arrive in Astana on 22 April to attend the next meeting of the inter-government commission.

" Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are leaders in their region, Caucasus and Central Asia. As the role of inter-regional cooperation in globalization process is growing day by day, the cooperation between these countries and strategic allies will be intensified further, especially in energy," the Azerbaijani Ambassador said to Trend in Astana.

He referred to the agreement that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan signed independently to ensure energy security in Europe which will lead to joint efforts in this regard.

According to the Ambassador, Azerbaijan has developed three documents to introduce to Kazakhstan for their consideration, namely the Memorandum on Cooperation in industry and energy, Memorandum on Cooperation in investments and trade and the Agreement on joint Co-operation.

"The parties will consider these documents during the meeting of inter-government commission and as soon as they are ready, they will present these documents for the consideration of leaders of both countries during their meeting which will be held during Nursultan Nazarbayev's visit to Azerbaijan," diplomat said.

Cooperation in agriculture and the transit of cargos via the TRACECA corridor will be discussed during the meeting. Legal basis for cooperation in energy between the two countries has already been created. In 2006, an agreement was signed on Kazakhstan joining the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and State Oil Company of Azerbaijan and Kazmunaygaz signed a memorandum on the strategic partnership in the Kazakh Caspian transport system in summer 2007.

"Expanding BTC so that it can receive Kazakh oil is currently under discussion; there is also the Baku-Supsa pipeline which Kazakhstan can use if necessary," Ambassador said.

The date and period of re-payment of Azerbaijan's debt to Kazakhstan worth $16.9mln will be discussed in the meeting of inter-government commission. The principal agreement on re-payment of debt was reached in summer 2007 during the visit of the minister of finance Samir Sharifov's to Astana.

Apart from this, the ambassador said that the shortage of skilled workers in Kazakhstan was discussed during the recently held investment forum in Aktau.

"During the discussions in Aktau, Azerbaijan offered assistance to educate Kazakh students in the Azerbaijani Oil Academy which has relevant facilities. This issue will therefore also be discussed in the meeting of the inter-government commission," he said.

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