I have been coming since may be 1998 or 1999 and it was a completely different event. It was modest and it was up at, I guess, the Heydar Aliyev Complex up near the Hyatt Hotel and when I think back on it, the attitude was sort of like Azerbaijan is just emerging after that horrible war, it is trying to attract investment, you know: “please, trust in us, we’ll be responsible, we’ll be trustworthy”. This event is much different: it is on a world class level, it is Azerbaijan now that is being courted, it is all the investors now coming saying “hey, we would like to work with you; yes, you are trustworthy, you have delivered”. And the European Union even is saying “Azerbaijan is our strategic partner in energy”. So, it is a huge change and to me, it is a very optimistic situation now, very, very positive.
The key issues discussed around the overall topic of energy include increasing investment in oil and gas production, Azerbaijan’s being able to deliver and double its deliveries of natural gas to Europe, renewable energy, all of the investment that’s happening now in wind and solar power – there was an investment that was inaugurated yesterday by President Ilham Aliyev and Minister of Technology of UAE, Ahmed Al Jaber. Besides the conversations about how you do the global energy transition and Azerbaijan’s partnership with EU, there are a lot of side-meetings and deals happening or moving towards agreements between technology providers, investors, and producers like SOCAR, bp Azerbaijan or Nobel Energy.
The whole point of forums is to drive positive change. It is where people gather, exchange views, and hopefully, reach agreements. True, the agreements are reached privately, separately. A Forum’s main underlying message is that the world needs to work together: the energy consumers, the suppliers, the producers, the technology companies should innovate in a way that allows both oil and gas to be produced safely and efficiently, and at an affordable price, with secure supply, but also there needs to be massive investment in renewable energy to make sure the global temperature doesn’t increase past 1.5 degrees.
Matthew Bryza
Jamestown Foundation
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