President: Connectivity between East and West today, without Azerbaijan, is rather problematic

Connectivity between East and West today, without Azerbaijan, is rather problematic, said President Ilham Aliyev during his speech at the Azerbaijan-Latvia business forum, Report informs.

According to Ilham Aliyev, for many countries in the European Union, Azerbaijani gas and oil make up the largest part of their energy consumption portfolio:

"Another area which we have largely concentrated on was, is, and will be connectivity. Here, geography is complemented by our investments and long-term policy to transform Azerbaijan, which is a landlocked country, into an international transportation hub. It has already happened. Transportation corridors from East to West and vice versa, North to South and vice versa, are already functioning. On Azerbaijani territory, all construction works have been completed. What we are doing now is only investing in modernization, in creating new physical infrastructure, in digitalization, including the opportunities provided by AI, in order to make transportation through Azerbaijan not only the safest in today's geopolitical situation but also competitive from the point of view of fees, transportation costs, and timing. And here, there is a big room for investments because connectivity between East and West today, without Azerbaijan, is rather problematic. We have already invested significantly, as I said, and also, in cooperation with friendly countries, with our immediate neighbors and neighbors of our neighbors, we have managed to provide a safe and reliable transportation route for cargo. By the way, the number of cargoes going through Azerbaijan is growing year after year."