ISTANBUL

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Monday that his country satisfies all its energy needs while also exporting various forms of energy abroad. 

“We in Azerbaijan developed renewable sources of energy not in order to provide our energy security. We did it many years ago. Today, Azerbaijan not only satisfies all its needs with energy but is also exporting crude oil, oil products, natural gas, petrochemicals, electricity,” Aliyev said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Summit, according to a presidential statement,

The statement said that Aliyev noted Baku’s program with respect to renewables has a completely different agenda because it has an enormous potential and because of the role it will have in helping the country diversify its exports and create a new ecologically-friendly sector.

United Arab Emirates government owned renewable energy company “MASDAR and Azerbaijan’s national energy company SOCAR signed an agreement to develop four gigawatts of wind and solar power plants in Azerbaijan, and this is only a short-term project. Mid-term projects will increase the volume up to 10 gigawatts,” Aliyev said.

He added that memorandums of understanding and agreements signed by Azerbaijan with international energy companies will allow the country to produce up to 22 gigawatts of wind and solar energy.

Aliyev arrived in UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi on Sunday, where he initially met with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“During the conversation, the sides mentioned that Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates maintain close cooperation in the political, economic, security and other fields and highlighted the significance of expanding these relations,” a statement by the UAE presidency said.

The statement also said that the two leaders underlined the importance of reciprocal visits by delegations from the two countries at different levels.