Aliyev receives Albanian President Meta in Baku, praises TAP – stays clear of promises

Alyiev and Meta meet in Baku

Baku, March 15 (Tirana Echo) – The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received today the President of Albania Ilir Meta in Baku, praising bilateral relations and staying clear of any concrete promises of further energy projects in Albania.

Recalling his last visit to Azerbaijan as Speaker of Parliament two years ago, Ilir Meta said it is his first visit to Azerbaijan as President. He stressed the significance of the 6th Global Baku Forum and noted that Baku has made a significant contribution to the global cooperation.

Meta also expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for his work on strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation. In here Meta pointed out that the Trans Adriatic Pipeline in Albania is under a successful implementation and that the project would also be important to the ‘gasification’ of Albania.

However, energy experts have highlighted the challenge of installing a gas distribution network across Albania due to infrastructure and geographic barriers, fueling concerns that TAP might only use Albania as a transit route.

President Ilham Aliyev echoed such concerns when he did not offer any concrete plans to sponsor a gas distributing facility in the small Balkan country, preferring to stay diplomatic.

Aliyev’s press service said the Azeri President emphasized that the projects jointly implemented by Azerbaijan and Albania have strengthened bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Aliyev hailed the fact that the TAP project is being implemented on schedule in Albania and highlighted the importance of this project. Noting that there were good prospects for energy cooperation, President Ilham Aliyev recalled the Albanian delegation`s participation in the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council in Baku a month ago.

Aliyev is yet to visit Albania, in a visit which seems to have been postponed several times.

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is a pipeline project to transport natural gas, from Azerbaijan through Turkey, Greece via Albania and under the Adriatic Sea to Italy and further to Western Europe.

The pipeline would be supplied by natural gas from the second stage of the Shah Deniz (Azerbaijan) gas field development in the Azerbaijani section of Caspian Sea through the South Caucasus Pipeline and the planned Trans Anatolian Pipeline. Since it will enhance energy security and diversify gas supplies for several European markets, the TAP project is supported by the European institutions and seen as a “Project of Common Interest” and a part of the Southern Gas Corridor.

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