Georgia Stresses on its Role in Secure Energy Supply for Europe

Opinions voiced during the two-day energy security conference in Tbilisi has confirmed that Georgia can play an important role as energy transit country for Europe, which ?needs to be safer than it is today and it should not depend only on one supplier,? Gela Bezhuashvili, the Georgian Foreign Minister said on June 21.

An international conference on Eurasian Energy Security, co-hosted by the International energy Agency and the Georgian government, was held in Tbilisi on June 20-21.

Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) William Ramsay said at a joint news conference with the Georgian Foreign Minister on June 21 that Georgia has a potential to contribute more as a transit country after active consideration of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is launched.

Foreign Minister Bezhuashvili said that Georgia has stressed on importance of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline to ship Central Asian hydrocarbons via Caucasus to Europe.

?But this is not enough. We need to attract investors; we need to develop a common vision in order to make this project real… Today we speak about energy security in Europe. We [Georgia] also have a role in this and can perform this role not only as a transit country, but also as a GUAM [Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova] member state, which aims at ensuring energy security not only for our countries, but for the entire Europe as well… We are creating favorable conditions and environment to make Europe safe tomorrow,? Bezhuashvili said.