MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

A plenary session of the Green Middle Corridor Ministerial was held in Budapest, with the participation of high-ranking representatives of the governments of Georgia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan, where the main directions of strategic partnership in the field of green energy development and transmission were discussed. The ministers who addressed the meeting were Levan Davitashvili, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan, Ioan Burduja, Minister of Energy of Romania, and Zhecho Stankov, Minister of Energy of Bulgaria. From the Georgian side, the meeting was also attended by Giorgi Gigineishvili, General Director of the JSC Georgian State Electrosystem, and Tamar Liluashvili, Georgian Ambassador to Hungary.

"Together, we are shaping the energy future of the region and together we will achieve the common goal - clean, connected and secure energy future. To achieve this goal, we need even more effort and cooperation to turn our plans into real actions. I sincerely thank the partner countries and stakeholders for their active support," – Levan Davitashvili stated in his speech at the Ministerial.

As Levan Davitashvili noted, the participants of the Ministerial agreed that Bulgaria will also join the Black Sea Underwater Cable project. According to the Minister, the team faces significant tasks, one of which is the completion of the feasibility study, which is being carried out by an Italian consulting company, and the process is moving forward rapidly. Davitashvili expressed hope that the full feasibility study will be available by the end of the second quarter of this year, and the project will move to the practical implementation phase.   

"I think we can give full mandate to the implementation of a flagship project that will guarantee energy security for the whole of Europe, and this is not only in the interests of the countries of the South Caucasus or the Caspian region, but, I think, it is an important project for the long-term sustainable energy development of the entire European continent," – the Minister said.

The First Vice Prime Minister assumed that each participating country has a very comprehensive agenda for promoting energy, and Georgia is also a part of this.   

"We are implementing significant support schemes in the energy sector in the direction of renewable energy, wind, solar and hydropower. We had two competitive auctions for private developers to grant the CFD mechanism, then we expanded it with direct negotiations with private developers for those who can invest in real energy projects. We currently have about 10,000 megawatts of potential renewable energy projects in Georgia, which is a significant capacity - it can be used for local consumption, but it can also be used in our flagship project," – Davitashvili explained.  

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development noted that the same agenda exists in partner countries as well, and in his assessment, this helps in smooth energy transition and sustainable development, in order to meet the expectations of both the population and business, and in the long term, predictable energy prices will strengthen and make the economies of the project participating countries more competitive.   

"This is the ultimate goal of this project, so we are in daily coordination and hold high-level meetings of the steering committee to implement this project in the best and most efficient way. Of course, fiber optic connections are also extremely important, and this will be another very important part of communication between our countries," – the First Vice Prime Minister said.

Within the framework of the Ministerial, a joint letter was signed by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, and Hungary to European Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, which emphasized the importance of greater support from the European Union for the Black Sea underwater cable project, which is vital not only for the region but also for Europe's energy security and green energy future.