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global energy market. Azer-
baijan's share of the gas
market in several European
countries has increased to
40%.

In addition to substan-
tial oil and gas reserves,
Azerbaijan has a pivotal
position on the crossroads
of Europe, Asia and the
Middle East. Geographical-
ly, Azerbaijan is uniquely
situated to serve as a regio-
nal transportation hub and
to meet Europe's energy
needs. Energy exports and
sustainable development
offer ample opportunities
for international coopera-
tion. Our landmark Baku-
(Turkish
Thilisi-Ceyhan
port on the Mediterra-
nean) pipeline ships around a million direct investments, TAP will also have a further suffering brought about by the
barrels of oil per day to the Eastern positive impact on the socio-economic ongoing conflict with Armenia, which
Mediterranean. development of European countries. has resulted in about 20% of Azer-
baijan's territory being occupied,
Having transformed itself from a After the implementation of the followed by the ethnic cleansing of
gas-consuming to a gas-producing TANAP project, which was initiated by around 1 million indigenous Azerbai-
country, Azerbaijan is increasing its Azerbaijan and is being realized jointly jani people from their native lands. It
contribution to European energy se- with Turkey, Azerbaijan's role in the is not a coincidence that four United
curity. The arrival of gas from Azer- natural gas market of Europe will in- Nations Security Council (UNSC)
baijan will further diversify energy crease further. This project is expected resolutions clearly demanded the im-
supplies for our European partners. to become a major contributor to our mediate, complete and unconditional
The multinational Shah Deniz consor- long-term development and will se- withdrawal of Armenian forces from
tium recently announced its selection cure Azerbaijan's economic and other all occupied Azerbaijani territories.
of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to interests for decades to come. Unfortunately, the key UNSC demands
transport Azerbaijani natural gas from have still not been implemented, and
the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP) Q. How do you see future prospe- the mediation efforts carried out for
into Europe. These two new projects rity as a whole for the South Cau- more than twenty years within the
are pursued to increase gas supplies casus? framework of the Organization for
to European markets. Moreover, by Security and Cooperation in Europe
offering thousands of new jobs and Pursuing peace with and among our have not yet yielded any results.
attracting large amounts of foreign neighbours, Azerbaijan seeks to avoid
We are confident that
for the purposes of las-
ting peace, security and
stability, there is no al-
ternative other than to
convince the Republic of
Armenia to put an end to
the illegal occupation of
the internationally reco-
gnized territories of the
Republic of Azerbaijan
through the concerted
efforts of the interna-
tional community, to
ensure that the inalie-
nable rights of the Azer-
baijani internally dis-
placed persons to return
to their places of origin
is fully recognized and
N
implemented.

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