MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia participated in the 10th Ministerial meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor, held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The Ministerial was opened with the speech of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and the European Commissioner for Energy Affairs Kadri Simson addressed the participants of the event.

Levan Davitashvili delivered a speech at the Ministerial session of the participating countries. In his speech, the First Vice Prime Minister focused on the fact that Georgia has been an active participant in the Southern Gas Corridor development project since its inception and provides continuous political support to it.

In his speech, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development also noted that Georgia is actively contributing to the achievement of the agreements stipulated in the memorandum signed between Azerbaijan and the European Union on July 18, 2022, which aims to increase Azerbaijan's gas supply to the European Union through the Southern Gas Corridor to at least 20 billion cubic meters per year by 2027 (from 8.,1 billion in 2021).

The Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (a state-owned energy leader) signed an agreement with SOCAR for the temporary diversion of gas flows, under which Georgia is authorized to purchase gas under the SCP project contracts. As a result, additional capacity became available every year - about 1,1 billion cubic meters, which was used for the increased export of Azerbaijan's natural gas to European countries.

"Georgia has proven to be a reliable partner whose actions are aimed at strategic partnership and mutually beneficial cooperation. We support projects aimed at the full-scale development of the Southern Gas Corridor initiative, including the possible supply of gas from Central Asian states, as well as the implementation of the Trans-Caspian (or Intra-Caspian) gas pipeline project. Georgia is ready to continue active dialogue with Azerbaijan, Turkey, other participants of the Southern Gas Corridor, representatives of the European Union and stakeholders in order to achieve this goal," – Levan Davitashvili noted.

As participants of the Georgian delegation, George Chikovani,  Director general of the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation,  Jubo Turashvili, Head of the Department of Energy Policy and Investment Projects of the Ministry of Economy, and Zurab Pataradze, Ambassador of Georgia to Azerbaijan, also attended the 10th ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.