Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that an intergovernmental agreement with Serbia has been approve, which will enable the country to purchase electricity produced in Azerbaijan at favorable prices.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier that he had a telephone conversation with the Azeri President, during which he pleaded for help in the energy sector. Namely, Serbia is facing difficult winter in terms of energy. State-owned power utility is unable to produce enough coal for its thermal power plants due to the company’s mismanagement, and is forced to import both coal and electricity.
Recently, Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said that Serbia has spent more than 1.5 billion euros on energy imports in the first half of 2022.
In June, Serbia and Azerbaijan have signed an agreement on cooperation in the energy sector, primarily in the gas sector and energy transition.
Minister Mihajlovic said on the occasion that the agreement will contribute to the improvement of overall relations between the two countries. According to her, it will further strengthen cooperation, especially in the gas sector, since the Southern Gas Corridor is important for supplying the entire Europe and diversifying routes and suppliers.
She pointed out that the signed agreement paves way for new opportunities for cooperation regarding electricity, since Azerbaijan has surpluses in electricity production, as well as in the field of energy efficiency improvement, and regarding the exchange of experiences, technologies and new investments in RES.
Azerbaijani Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov said that the agreement is a great opportunity to discuss future joint actions, when it comes to the Southern Gas Corridor, as well as other energy and economic topics. The Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection opens numerous opportunities for cooperation in the gas sector and the working group, that will be established soon, will mostly deal with this topic, also stressing the importance of talks regarding all energy sectors, not just gas, but also RES and electricity.
