Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend A.Gasimova / Azerbaijan is the first country which has taken steps with regards to the competition, but not confrontation in the energy sphere, said the U.S. Department of State's Envoy for Europe and Eurasia, Matthew Bryza, on 29 June at the second Security Forum of the Council of Euro-Atlantic Partnership.
Presently Azerbaijan exports light oil to Turkey via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. In the near future, the gas is expected to be supplied to Turkey from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field via South Caucasus Pipeline.
According to him, Azerbaijan has already made the first efforts to export gas to Europe via its own pipeline. This initiative was made by Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia. He stressed that presently discussions are taking place over gas transportation from Azerbaijan to Greece via the territory of Turkey.
"Unfortunately the USA has not any gas company in Azerbaijan, but they should appear soon. We can fully expand the corridor of 'East-West' offered by Azerbaijan nationwide leader, Heydar Aliyev," Bryza said.
In addition, he said that other significant project is NABUCCO pipeline which also begin from Azerbaijan.
"There should be competition, but not confrontation between the countries in the energy sphere," Bryza said.
The Security Forum of Council of Euro-Atlantic Partnership is an informal summit of NATO member and partner countries. The key topic of the present forum is 'Assistance to peace and stability: current challenge and decisions'. Mainly the event covered the problems linked with the stability in Afghanistan and Balkans.