Minister: We hope to be ready for the IAP construction in 2-3 years

Baku. 23 February. REPORT.AZ/ "We hope we will be ready for construction of the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) in 2-3 years".

Report informs, Montenegrin Minister of Economy Dragica Sekulić told reporters in Baku.

She noted that in recent years, great progress has been made on the IAP project: "Works progressed in the participant countries. Works in Croatia are in progressive stage, in Montenegro and Albania in preparation. We near completion of planning, design works. We hope we will be ready for the construction in 2-3 years. This project is a priority for this part of Europe. We will do our best to speed up the work".

The minister added that the IAP project is important for gas supply of the country. D.Sekulić said that Azerbaijan is a friendly country to Montenegro as well as its demonstration in various projects. Speaking on the relations with SOCAR, she said that SOCAR has been providing support since launch of the project.

Notably, the IAP is supposed to be connected to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

The pipeline will pass through territories of Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The length of the IAP pipeline from Split, Croatia to Fier, Albania will be 516 kilometers, and the capacity of this pipeline is set at five billion cubic meters annually.

In August 2016, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the construction of the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) project in the future was signed between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro.