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EU Energy Commissionerâ€™s spokesperson: â€œThe disputes on division of the Caspian Sea will have no influence on the construction of Trans-Caspian pipelineâ€

20 September 2011 11:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Habil Suleymanzadeh - APA. â€œWe want to import gas from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan directly. Thatâ€™s why we need this pipelineâ€, said Spokesperson for the EUâ€™s Energy Commissioner Marlene Holzner in his interview to the â€œDeutsche Welleâ€ radio. As regards the arguments on the status of the Caspian Sea, EU official noted that the final agreement wouldnâ€™t have an expression about it: â€œWe hold an opinion that the disputes on division of the Caspian Sea will have no influence on the construction of Trans-Caspian pipeline. Why? Because the pipe will pass through the territory of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and regardless of status of the Caspian Sea, the other Caspian states have no right to stop the construction. The only question is: what extent we should consider their positions in the issues of energy security. Construction itself, of course, will meet the highest standards of quality, including from an environmental point of view. According to Holzner, Russia has no decisive vote in the Trans-Caspian pipeline project and Moscow can give only recommendations and proposalsâ€.

As regards the future negotiations with Azerbaijan, EU spokesperson said that the negotiations would start during the nearest weeks: â€œIt means that for the first time in the history the European Commission will negotiate on behalf of all 27 EU member states on the implementation of energy projects outside the EU. Energy Commissioner GÃ¼nther Oettinger will personally participate in the negotiations from our side. The informal preparation to the negotiations has been held for a long time and we know the desire of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to negotiate with us. We’re going to agree on the following parameters: length of the tube and the ratio of the volume of supplies from Baku and Ashgabat, environmental, protection of investments.â€

According to hi, the construction will be held by the companies which will win the tender.