SOCAR ex-head: Co-op with European Charter promises great benefits for Azerbaijan

By  Trend

Azerbaijan's close cooperation with the European Charter, in particular Azerbaijan's entry into the International Energy Charter (IEC), will expand the prospects for investment opportunities and also contribute to the creation of a legislative framework that meets modern requirements, the ex-head of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, economist Sabit Bagirov told Trend.

Bagirov was speaking on the prospects of Azerbaijan joining the International Energy Charter and chairing the forthcoming conference in 2020.

Cooperation with the European Charter promises great benefits to Azerbaijan, according to Bagirov.

"Azerbaijan is actively working to develop the energy market. To this end, a new draft law "On the regulation of energy markets," is prepared in order to bring the country closer to modern requirements and standards in the energy sector," Bagirov said.

According to Bagirov, efforts aimed at bringing Azerbaijan closer to the Energy Charter, including the adoption of new laws, will bring the country closer to the high standards of the international energy market.

"It is expected that the new law will coordinate the activities of the independent energy regulator, work of all market participants and will also affect private and public enterprises, electricity generation, transportation and distribution. The Energy Ministry conducts detailed work on the launch and implementation of energy efficiency projects, thereby making a great contribution to the future of the energy sector. And I believe that the work aimed at finding economical and profitable ways of using energy resources, their export and effective implementation will yield positive results in the future," Bagirov added.

Earlier, the Secretary General of the Energy Charter Urban Rusnak, speaking at a conference on energy efficiency in Baku, had said that Azerbaijan and the International Energy Charter expect fruitful cooperation in many areas.

Azerbaijan will chair the Energy Charter Conference in 2020. The country has been a member of the European Energy Charter since 1998.

In May 2015, the European Energy Charter was granted international status.