The transportation of Caspian oil to Europe through Georgia and Ukraine was discussed during a summit of GUAM ? Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova ? in Baku, officials said after the summit on June 19.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan had ?enough resources? to justify the planned Odessa-Brody-Gdansk pipeline. In addition, he said, Azerbaijan was ready to open the pipeline to other oil-rich ?friendly states? of the Caspian region – a clear reference to Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natik Aliyev told reporters in Baku on June 19 that working groups were already working on the project.
He said that the next meeting of the working group would be held in Tbilisi sometime this summer and in September the issue would be discussed at a summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. GUAM leaders are expected to participate in this summit as well.
The Vilnius summit will follow up on discussions of energy cooperation at an earlier Krakow energy summit.
The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine signed a joint declaration on May 11 in Krakow, calling for increased cooperation in transporting oil and gas from Central Asia to Europe via the South Caucasus.
The presidents of Lithuania and Poland were present at the GUAM summit in Baku on June 18-19.
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