Parviz Shahbazov, Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister, met with Charles Cormier, Infrastructure Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia as well as Rolande Pryce, Regional Director for the South Caucasus at the World Bank, the Ministry of Energy told AZERTAC.

The sides exchanged views on existing projects implemented in the energy sector of Azerbaijan, new cooperation opportunities, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, modernization of power grids, energy storage systems, rooftop solar energy and regional energy projects. They emphasized the progress of the AZURE project, implemented jointly with the World Bank, was discussed and the importance of the project in terms of sustainable integration of renewable energy powers into the power grid.

The two stressed the importance of modernizing, digitizing and increasing the reliability of power transmission and distribution networks in the light of the growing demand for data centers and artificial intelligence, electric vehicles.

The parties discussed cooperation opportunities with the World Bank on Caspian-Black Sea-European Green Energy Corridor project. They also reviewed the interaction of the Caspian - Black Sea - European Green Energy Corridor and Georgian - Romanian Black Sea Submarine Cable projects, the contribution of these initiatives to European energy security and their role in regional integration.

The meeting also focused on opportunities for expanding Azerbaijan's role as a regional energy supplier in terms of gas exports as well as electricity. The progress made in the field of energy efficiency and future steps in this area were also discussed at the meeting.

The sides also explored the current potential for reducing energy consumption in public buildings, the activities of the Energy Efficiency Fund, as well as the possibilities of applying international experience.