Georgia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Romania Sign Agreement on Black Sea Electricity Cable

On 17 December, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Romanian Prime Minister Romania Nicolae Ciucă signed the agreement for the development of the 1,100-kilometer-long Black Sea strategic submarine electricity cable aimed at transporting energy from Azerbaijan to the European Union through Georgia.

The agreement followed the Plenary Session on Strategic Partnership Agreement for Green Energy Development and Transmission held in Bucharest, Romania. 

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen attended the signing ceremony and during her address emphasized that the agreement will “bring the European Union close to our partners in the South Caucasus region, and it will help both our regions achieve the clean energy transition.”

In that context of the agreement, she underscored that “since the beginning of Russia’s war, we have decided to turn our back on Russian fossil fuels and to diversify towards reliable energy partners, like the partners here around the table.”

President Von Der Leyen also noted that the “Black Sea electric cable is a new transmission route full of opportunities.” “This project could bring Georgia, a country with a European destiny, great benefits as well. It could transform the country into an electricity hub and integrate it into the EU internal electricity market,” she said.

On his part, Prime Minister Garibashvili underlined in his address that the “present geopolitical challenges and the war in Ukraine has made the need for diversification and resilience even more imperative, in order to address urgent challenges of energy security. Georgia’s strategic geographic location makes us a natural bridge between the West and the East, serving as a gateway for eight landlocked countries of South Caucasus and Central Asia.”

Meanwhile, the Romanian Prime Minister, hosting the meeting, stated “it has never been more important than nowadays to capitalize on the existing potential related to renewable energy generation capacity, in view of developing green electricity trade between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Georgia, on the one hand, and Europe, on the other hand.”

The EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi had revealed on 12 December that the EU would allocate EUR 17 billion for the economic and investment plan of the Eastern Partnership (EaP), including EUR 2.3 billion aimed at creating the Black Sea strategic submarine electricity cable between Georgia and the EU.

Also Read:

• 12/12/2022 – EU to Invest EUR 2.3 Billion in Georgia-Romania Black Sea Electricity Cable
• 22/11/2022 – Gov’t Talks Plans for Caspian Sea Gas Pipeline through Georgia to Europe

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