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Romanian President: â€œOur relations with Azerbaijan have a great economic cooperation potentialâ€

21 January 2012 09:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva â€“ APA-Economics. â€œRomaniaâ€™s relations with the Caucasian and Central Asian countries, particularly Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have a great economic cooperation potentialâ€, said Romanian President Traian Basescu during his meeting with the foreign diplomats in Bucharest, APA-Economics reports.

He stressed the important role of the above-mentioned countries in energy security of Romania. He said it was a priority of his countryâ€™s national security. Basescu emphasized the significance of AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector) project.

Romania, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a memorandum of understanding on April 13, 2010 in Bucharest for implementation of AGRI project. On September 14, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania signed joint declaration on AGRI in Baku. The project will provide transportation of Azerbaijani gas via pipelines to the Black Sea coasts of Georgia, where it will be liquidized in special terminals and shipped to the tankers for the transportation to Romaniaâ€™s Constanta port and then using it for needs of Romania and other European countries through the Romanian gas infrastructure network.

According to the preliminary calculations, AGRI will cost 1.2-1.4 billion Euro. The exact cost will depend on the annula potential of the terminals (2-8 billion cubic meters). The project is expected to be implemented in two years. It will transport 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year in the first phase and then to raise this figure to 20 billion.

Hungary also announced its plans to join the project.