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Gunther Oettinger: â€œAnyway Azerbaijan is a key country in the realization of this projectâ€

08 June 2011 08:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva â€“ APA. â€œWe are waiting for Azerbaijanâ€™s decision on participation in â€œNabuccoâ€ project which will be passed at the end of October. It is a historical decision and Azerbaijan needs time for making this decision. In our turn, we will continue the political dialog till the adoption of decision. I am sure that we will get the relevant decisions of all participators of the project till the end of the monthâ€, said European Unionâ€™s Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger at the press conference in Baku, APA reports.

He noted the continuation of negotiations for realization of â€œNabuccoâ€ project with potential supplier and transit countries: â€œShahdenizâ€ consortium will adopt decision in October. Besides we will continue the negotiations with the other partners. We will leave for Turkey and sign transit agreement with â€œBotaÅŸâ€ and other companies. We will also try to increase the amount of natural gas which will be transported via this pipeline. Now we are continuing the negotiations with Turkmenistan as well as we are interested in purchasing gas from Iraq for the realization of Nabucco project. We are continuing contacts with new government in Baghdad for transportation of Iraqi gas to Europe via Turkeyâ€.

Energy Commisioner said that anyway Azerbaijan is a key country in the realization of this project: â€œAzerbaijan has great gas reserves and at the same time the countryâ€™s geopolitical situations has a great importance for the realization of regional energy projects. Europe has been showing interest to Azerbaijan as an energy country since 1866. Azerbaijan has a decisive role as both producer and transit country. It is high time to deepen this cooperationâ€.

Oettinger congratulated Azerbaijan on the victory in Eurovision-2011 contest: â€œEurope with 500 mln population increases its interest to Azerbaijan. Next year Azerbaijan will be Europeâ€™s musical capitalâ€.