Georgia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, and Romania to Boost Power Delivery to EU
According to Levan Davitashvili, the head of Georgia's Ministry of Economy, representatives of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, and Romania intend to boost an agreement on the delivery of power to the EU.
He continued by saying that this investment totals several billion euros. "Additionally, it will enable Georgia to be directly connected to the electricity grid of the EU," he added.
Earlier, Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan, said that Baku would use Georgia to send 157 GW of power to foreign markets. Also, Parviz Shahbazov, the Energy Minister for Azerbaijan, met with Davitashvili recently to explore the potential for constructing a power transmission line beneath the Black Sea, a project that Georgia and Azerbaijan hope to carry out with the assistance of Romania and Hungary.
On October 19, Caucasus Watch reported that the agreement on joint financing of feasibility studies was signed in Bucharest by the Azerbaijani state company SOCAR and the Romanian state company Romgaz. According to Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, who was present at the signing of the memorandum, the implementation of the joint Azerbaijani-Romanian project to liquefy natural gas will open an alternative route for delivering gas produced in the Caspian region to Europe. Ciucă said less than three weeks had passed since he met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Sofia on the occasion of the commissioning of a gas pipeline linking Bulgaria and Greece. According to the Romanian Prime Minister, a solution is still being sought for supplying Azerbaijani gas via pipelines through Turkey and Bulgaria to Romania and other consumers, including Moldova. "Together with Azerbaijan, we have pledged to help Moldova get the necessary amount of gas," the Romanian Prime Minister said.