Baku 23° C
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Baku. 27 October. REPORT.AZ/ Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Azerbaijan Tsuguo Takahashi has received Caspian Energy’s delegation headed by President and Editor-in-Chief of the Caspian Energy International Media Group Natalya Aliyeva.
Report informs referring to the Caspian European Club press service, prospects of expansion of the Azerbaijani-Japanese information cooperation within the framework of the Caspian European Club (Caspian Business Club) and Caspian Energy International Media Group were touched in the course of the meeting. Particular importance of the Caspian region for the energy security of Japan was emphasized.
The Caspian Sea is the second valuable source of energy resources in the world after the Persian Gulf. “As Japan is a fully import-dependent country, diversification of oil supply sources is important for us. We buy 8% of oil from Russia. The rest comes from the Near East countries. Therefore, oil development in the Caspian is of big importance for us”, Tsuguo Takahashi noted.
“Azerbaijan is playing a key role in ensuring energy security of Europe. In the meantime, Azerbaijan is playing an important initiative role in construction of the Southern Gas Corridor, which guarantees its significant presence in the European gas market in the 21st century. I welcome Azerbaijan’s much bigger achievements in the oil-gas field”, the Ambassador said.
As an Ambassador, I would like a high level meeting to be paid to Azerbaijan in near future.
Nowadays, Japan and Azerbaijan have their relations focused mainly on the oil area, the Ambassador continued. In particular, Japanese companies are engaged in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli project and the shareholders of the BTC. However, considering Azerbaijan’s potential in the non-oil sector, expansion of the business cooperation is observed in other areas as well – construction of the plant on assembling of ISUZU trucks is an example. According to the diplomat, many Japanese companies are interested in the economic cooperation with Azerbaijan and they observe the improvement of the investment climate. Japan is supporting the objective of the Azerbaijani government in promotion of the economic diversification, development of the agriculture, tourism, transport, as well as alternative energy and road infrastructure.
“Using Japanese concessional loans, we have constructed a Thermal Power Plant and now 1/6 of electricity in Azerbaijan is generated with the help of the Japanese state”, it is a particular honor for us, the Ambassador said.
The introduction of reforms is closely tracked in Japan. According to Tsuguo Takahashi, the government of Azerbaijan attaches big importance to the improvement of the investment climate. “I hope that it will let Japanese companies actively engage in this process. I welcome the efforts of the Azerbaijani state made in the field of economic reforms and improvement of the investment climate”, the Ambassador emphasized.
At the end of the meeting the Ambassador gave an exclusive interview to Caspian Energy. In the course of the interview he spoke about the energy security in details, possibilities of production of new types of energy resources, improvement of production technologies by Japan, the situation at the global energy markets and development of the non-oil sector of the Azerbaijani economy. He also noted the prospects of development of the tourism sector.
