Romanian president Klaus Iohannis today made an address in Baku in the presence of his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and the European energy commissioner Kadri Simson in the official opening of the ministerial meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor. In the two years since becoming operational, the Corridor has demonstrated its strategic importance for Europe’s energy security and is becoming even more important now, when Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has drastically changed the geopolitical context, especially in the field of energy, said the Romanian president. He also spoke about Romania’s involvement in ensuring European energy security, which can be achieved by expanding cooperation with regional partners and diversifying the sources and routes of transport for the energy resources. Romania is an important producer of hydrocarbons in Europe and intends to develop this role with the help of the gas deposits discovered in the Black Sea, Johannis also said. Also today, during the president’s two-day visit to Azerbaijan, Romania’s and Azerbaijan’s state-owned natural gas companies, Romgaz and SOCAR, are signing a new one-year contract from April.
