Day: June 27, 2024
Azerbaijan places significant emphasis on cultivating mutually beneficial relations with the Republic of Italy as a cornerstone of its foreign policy, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting Azernews.
This strategic partnership spans critical sectors such as energy security and economic cooperation, underscoring Italy and Azerbaijan’s roles as key strategic allies. The enduring friendship and collaboration between these nations are rooted in a shared commitment to mutual respect and the advancement of bilateral ties.
Azerbaijan allocates significant funds to its military sector and prioritizes partnerships with enterprises that manufacture advanced weaponry. Its collaboration with Italy holds particular significance in this context.
Highlighting a recent milestone on June 26 at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, coinciding with Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces Day, President Ilham Aliyev, also serving as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, was ceremoniously presented with a C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft manufactured by Leonardo, a leading Italian aerospace company.
This event not only symbolized the depth of defense cooperation but also underscored the alignment of strategic interests between the two nations.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Edmondo Chirielli, and Leonardo President Stefano Pontecorvo participated, providing comprehensive insights into the aircraft’s capabilities, including military transport, paratrooper deployment, cargo airlifts, and medical missions.
It is worth noting that Italy has demonstrated its commitment to strengthening its strategic partnership with Azerbaijan through several significant steps. During the Patriotic War, Italy stood in solidarity with Azerbaijan, with its media recognized for its objective coverage of Azerbaijani issues. The declaration of 2020 as the “Year of Azerbaijan” in Italy underscored a special level of trust and recognition extended to Azerbaijan and President Ilham Aliyev.
Italy plays a pivotal role as Azerbaijan’s foremost political, economic, and trade partner within the European Union. Bilateral trade surged to $11 billion in the first eight months of 2022, illustrating robust economic engagement and mutual benefit. Over 100 Italian companies operate across diverse sectors in Azerbaijan, spanning industry, construction, trade, agriculture, communication, and services, showcasing the breadth and depth of their economic collaboration.
Integral to this partnership is Italy’s strategic role in mitigating the impact of fluctuating hydrocarbon prices through joint initiatives with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has emerged as a crucial supplier of crude oil and natural gas to Italy via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), operational since December 2020. This pipeline facilitates annual gas exports of at least 20 billion cubic meters to Europe, with plans for expansion to further bolster Italy’s energy security.
Additionally, Italian companies are actively participating in the reconstruction efforts of liberated regions in Azerbaijan. Notably, a key agreement signed in December 2020 between Azerbaijan’s “Azerenerji” OJSC and Italy’s “Ansaldo Energia” marked a milestone in mutual cooperation. Under this agreement, “Ansaldo Energia” supplied equipment for four 110 kV substations in the Aghdam, Fuzuli, Kalbajar, and Gubadli regions, contributing significantly to infrastructure development in the newly liberated territories.
Moreover, recent years have seen significant cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Baku and Rome. Before the pandemic, projects led by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Italy and Azerbaijani cultural events, such as film festivals, have enriched cultural exchanges between the two nations. Azerbaijan’s support for restoring cultural landmarks in Rome has not only strengthened bilateral ties but also enhanced Azerbaijan’s reputation in Italy.
In conclusion, Azerbaijan and Italy’s multifaceted partnership encompasses energy security, economic cooperation, cultural exchange, and humanitarian initiatives. This robust relationship not only serves their bilateral interests but also contributes to regional stability and prosperity.
The post Enhancing Azerbaijan-Italy relations: Strategic partnership across energy & defense appeared first on Azerbaijan In Focus.
“The statement by the Secretary of the Armenian Security Council is nothing but an attempt to cover up the defeat of the previous and current political-military leadership of Armenia, shift the blame onto others, and exonerate themselves,” said Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev as he responded to the question “The Secretary of the Armenian Security Council has claimed that Karabakh was handed over to Azerbaijan by Russia. Is this an expression of revanchism, or how would you interpret it?”
“The Azerbaijani army, by making its mark on the battlefield and sacrificing martyrs, defeated the Armenian army in the 44-day Patriotic War, achieved absolute military victory, ended Armenia’s 30-year-long military occupation, and forced Armenia to sign the act of capitulation. The Armenian leadership has itself admitted that there were more than 10,000 deserters in its army ranks. As a result of the anti-terrorist operation conducted in September 2023, the remnants of the Armenian army, which continued to stay illegally on Azerbaijani territory, were disarmed in less than 23 hours, and Karabakh was completely liberated. In total, weapons and ammunition worth more than 5 billion US dollars belonging to the Armenian army were destroyed or captured.
Both the 44-day Patriotic War and the anti-terrorist operation are studied as unique military operations in the military academies of many countries around the world.
It is regrettable to note that such statements reflect the persistence of revanchist fantasies in the mindset of the political-military leadership of Armenia. We advise the individuals in the political-military leadership of Armenia to completely abandon revanchist and revisionist dreams and end their policy of militarization to avoid repeating historical mistakes,” Hikmet Hajiyev added.
This article was originally published on AzerTac on 26 June 2024.
The post Hikmet Hajiyev: We advise individuals in political-military leadership of Armenia to completely abandon revanchist dreams appeared first on Azerbaijan In Focus.
Guivami Rahimli, Senior Government Affairs Advisor for bp Azerbaijan-Georgia-Türkiye region has shared his memories about a documentary film produced by Germany’s national television, ZDF, on the “Contract of the Century” signed in 1994 to develop Azeri, Chiraq and Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Caspian, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting AzerTac.
The ZDF’s documentary, called “Fire under Water – How Caspian Oil and Gas is Transported to the World Markets” is based on the recent history, economics, and politics of the Caspian region. This film, directed by Hans Peter Kochenrath and Alexsander Bohr reveals how political influence can outperform economic pressures and trump risk management, to benefit the development of the region, sprouting long-term economic returns, as well as political leverage.
The early years of Azerbaijan’s renewed independence was an incredibly challenging time with multiple, complex crises – the occupation of its territory by Armenian forces, post-independence instability and the subsequent economic decline of the young country.
President Heydar Aliyev, who once was one of the most influential leaders of the Soviet Union, returned to the political arena in 1993 and introduced a pragmatic foreign policy. His multi-vector policy approach avoids allying with any geopolitical bloc but opting for wise partnership in economic, energy, and military spheres, with global powers like USA, EU, as well as regional actors, especially Russia and Iran, ensuring balanced relations with major global and regional powers.
Heydar Aliyev was also experienced in petro-politics and in 1994 he brought in 11 foreign oil companies from 7 countries – the USA, UK, Russia, Turkey, Norway, Japan, and Saudi Arabia to sign an agreement to develop the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) fields in the Caspian, known as the Contract of the Century. It was an unprecedented multi-billion-dollar production-sharing agreement and, the largest contract ever signed in the former Soviet Union.
The consortium – Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), established by the oil companies, most of them big players in the oil and gas business, started a pilot – an early oil project.
On November 7, 1997, the first oil was produced from the Chirag platform, and the Government of Azerbaijan celebrated the start of oil production from the offshore field. The ceremony attended by numerous foreign dignitaries, including First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov and Minister of Fuel and Energy Yuri Shafranik from Russia, US Secretary of Energy Federico Pena, President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, and Prime Minister of Turkey Mesut Yilmaz.
It was a field day for President Heydar Aliyev. He was the one who had the vision to see the benefit of the oil and gas project developments while balancing the interests between global powers and powerful neighbours would bring to young Azerbaijan. The first oil barrel from Chirag field was the embodiment of his vision.
Heydar Aliyev also participated in the opening ceremony devoted to the commissioning of the “Dada Gorgud” drilling rig in the framework of the Contract of the Century in August 1996, acknowledged the great achievement in modernising this semi-submersible drilling rig by AIOC.
With all this progress, the main objective for Azerbaijan was to build trust and confidence with foreign investors and attract sufficient investment for full-field development of the ACG project and construction of the main Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) export pipeline, initiated by Heydar Aliyev.
The BTC vision was ambitious, needed an in-depth commitment and understanding in the intertwining of the worlds of business, politics, and technology. If such a pipeline could run to the Mediterranean, it would create a critical new source of supply meeting the demand of vast regions in the West that are so hungry for oil.
These developments which impacted the whole region during 1st decade of Azerbaijan’s independence was in the spotlight of international media outlets.
Germany’s ZDF broadcasting company saw the importance of creating a major film on Caspian oil production, documenting its fundamental development, and approached AIOC with an idea of making such a film.
The focal point of the film is the ‘Contract of the Century’, the activities of the oil consortium operated by AIOC. It includes interviews with President Heydar Aliyev, AIOC president Terry Adams, SOCAR president Natig Aliyev, other dignitaries and experts, including Washington’s Johns Hopkins University. AIOC has contributed a great deal to this film, providing the ZDF film producer with footages from the video archives, arranging the film crew members’ visits to various facilities for shooting, and so on. This documentary was a great success and had been broadcasted by ZDF and ARTE TVs channels in Germany and France.
I was directly involved in the production of this film and provided all requested support that came from ZDF film directors. This included the arrangement of the interviews, as well as meetings of film producer Friedhelm Brückner in the Presidential Administration, also with the president of AIOC consortium and the chairman of the Azerbaijan national television, helped ZDF to broadcast this documentary on AzTV channel.
In one of ZDF’s appreciation letters, the film director Alexsander Bohr, on behalf of producer Mr. Brückner and his colleague Mr. Kochenrath, emphasizes this contribution:
“Without your kind cooperation it would not have been possible for us to realise our film the way we did.”
AIOC also organised presentation of the film in Hyatt Regency in Baku, on 15th of December 1999.
Producer Friedhelm Bruckner and Madeleine Avramoussis, a representative of ZDF and ARTE came to Baku on this special occasion and participated in the presentation ceremony of this film. It was one of bp’s major projects carried out in cooperation with SOCAR and the embassies of Germany and Georgia. A large number of special guests, including government officials, representatives of foreign diplomatic mission and other VIP groups attended the event.
BP president David Woodward addressed the audience and highlighted the importance of the film:
“…Being the first international oil consortium in Azerbaijan, at the start of its third oil boom we are one of Azerbaijan’s modern-day oil history-makers. The film we believe is a major historical document to deliver the message of doing oil business in Azerbaijan in these exciting times to future generations.”
Now, looking back, we can witness the tremendous success Azerbaijan has achieved in building a prosperous nation, thanks to Heydar Aliyev’s strategy. His balanced, multi-dimensional policy played an exceptional role in the development of Azerbaijan, making it a notable member of the global community.
The BTC pipeline has transformed strategic realities in the South Caucasus and new Southern Gas Corridor project today is a major component of EU energy policy, increasing the significance of the East-West energy corridor. These supplies are a blessing to Europe, which were almost dependent on the pipelines from Russia.
Today, this is a history that fills me with deep emotions, most notably a feeling of gratitude for being a part of Azerbaijan’s history in the making, a history that has changed Azerbaijan into a successful model for the world.
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