Baku-Abu Dhabi: writing a new chapter in win-win partnership Afterword to President Aliyev's visit to UAE

In recent years Azerbaijan has been actively cooperating with Persian Gulf states to diversify exports and boost investment cooperation. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been one of our country's leading partners for a long time. Over the last period, the UAE business circles have stepped up joint undertakings in the field of renewable energy, tourism, and infrastructure projects. Another step contributing to the expansion of business cooperation was the working visit of President Ilham Aliyev to the UAE on January 15-16. Following the visit, agreements were signed between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Masdar Company (UAE) on joint projects in the field of solar and wind energy.

Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates have been building relations for more than three decades on a solid foundation of mutual respect, close views on key issues of the global and regional political agenda, and corresponding support for diplomatic initiatives in the international arena. It is noteworthy that on December 26, 1991, the Emirates was among the first countries in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence. Then our countries established diplomatic relations, the 30th anniversary of which was marked in early December last year. The high level of political relations between Baku and Abu Dhabi is undoubtedly due to sincere friendship between the leaders of the two countries, and their farsighted policy aimed at long-term cooperation, which has provided tangible results in recent years. More than three dozen interstate, intergovernmental and other bilateral agreements are currently in effect between the two countries, fostering mutually beneficial economic and humanitarian cooperation. In particular, the two countries have been consistently expanding the level of trade and economic and investment ties. The number of tourists from the UAE visiting our republic has visibly increased in recent years. Participation of business circles of both countries in business forums, trade exhibitions, conferences, and joint meetings at various levels has also increased. All this work has helped relatively quickly overcome the pandemic trade slowdown, with trade between the two countries reaching $50.4 million in 2021, up 20 per cent from the crisis year of 2020. According to preliminary data, in January-October 2022, the trade turnover between the countries was $90 million, more than twice as much as in the first ten months of 2021. It is predicted that in the final calculation of last year's total trade between Azerbaijan and the UAE could reach the landmark mark of one hundred million dollars. Today the UAE ranks second after Tunisia in terms of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and members of the League of Arab States.

Investment cooperation between the two countries is developing very rapidly - during the whole period of relations Azerbaijan has invested in the UAE $513 million. In turn, there are 233 investment companies from the Emirates, and according to the Ministry of Economy of the UAE, the volume of investments received from the Persian Gulf state in the Azerbaijani economy reaches $2.2 billion. A striking example of effective cooperation in the energy sector was the project implemented since March 2022, within the framework of which the UAE company Masdar started the construction of the Garadag solar power plant with a capacity of 230 MW in Azerbaijan, and will invest $200 million in this undertaking.

Cooperation in the field of renewable energy sources (RES) was paid much attention during the working visit of President Ilham Aliyev to the UAE, which ended the day before. "Just two years ago, Azerbaijan together with its partners completed a mega energy project - the 'Southern Gas Corridor' - an integrated pipeline system stretching 3,500 km from Azerbaijan to Southern Europe. The volume of our natural gas export is increasing from 19 billion cubic meters last year to 24 billion cubic meters this year, and this volume will continue to grow further," President Ilham Aliyev said speaking at the official opening of Abu Dhabi Sustainable Development Week. The head of the state underlined that in due time Azerbaijan attracted a large volume of investments in the oil and gas sector, having ensured its own energy security many years ago, and today the country acts as a major exporter of oil and gas raw materials, petrochemical products, electricity.

At the same time, President Ilham Aliyev noted that today the development of the renewable energy segment is a priority for Azerbaijan: the country's renewable energy potential is estimated at 27 GW of wind and solar energy on land, another 10 GW of wind and solar energy is available in the liberated areas, and the largest resource of 157 GW of wind energy can be accumulated in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Of course, the total potential of almost 200 GW could be developed in stages over the long term and a sufficient number of export routes would be required to deliver this energy.

However, the first steps in this direction have already been taken: during the current visit, accords were inked between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Masdar (UAE) on joint solar and wind energy projects. "Masdar and SOCAR have signed an agreement to build wind and solar power plants in Azerbaijan with a total capacity of 4 GW. This is just one project, and medium-term undertakings will increase this to 10 GW. This is absolutely feasible and we have a roadmap for both projects, in general cooperation with Masdar contributes to turning Azerbaijan into a major source of green energy exports," President Ilham Aliyev stressed.

As for the energy infrastructure for the export of RES-generated electricity, the Head of State stressed that to this end, on December 17, 2022, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania signed an agreement on laying the Black Sea Power Cable from the Georgian coast to Romania. This project, supported by the European Commission, contributes to the transportation of 4 GW of "green" energy from Azerbaijan. Overall, the memoranda of understanding and the agreements signed by international energy companies with Azerbaijan are designed to produce a total of up to 22 GW of wind and solar energy in the foreseeable future.

Notably, the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Development Week held since 2008 is one of the most important regional forums that bring together heads of state and government, politicians, industrial leaders, investors, businessmen, and young professionals, and this year the platform has brought together up to 30,000 delegates from 150 countries. The global interest in the Emirates' business opportunities is understandable - according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UAE economy in 2022 increased by 6 per cent and amounted to $440 billion, not to mention the fact that the country is second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of annual foreign investment.

Azerbaijan's active participation in the Abu Dhabi forum and the world's huge attention to the energy projects demonstrate the growing clout of our country and the far-sighted policy of its leader, who gave the start to the diversification of the energy vector towards the development of renewable energy sources and turning the country into a leading supplier of "green" electricity.