Azerbaijan sets up Energy Regulatory Agency's branches in liberated lands

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan sets up branches of the Energy Regulatory Agency in territories liberated from Armenia's occupation in a 44-day war in 2020.

Amendments have been made to the Energy Ministry order “On approval of regulations on branches of the Energy Regulatory Agency”.

The amendments provide for the expansion of territories under the jurisdiction of the agency’s Ganja, Mingachevir and Imishli branches.

The purpose of the regulation changes is to resolve energy issues on the Azerbaijani territories liberated during the Second Karabakh War in 2020 and to improve the functionality of the agency’s branches, taking into account new areas of work.

Thus, according to the amendments, the activities of the Ganja branch covers the territory of the liberated Kalbajar region, the Mingachevir branch covers the liberated Aghdam region and the Imishli branch covers liberated Shusha city and Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Khojavand, Khojaly, Zangilan, Gubadly and Lachin regions.

The changes will ensure the effective work of the agency on all liberated territories. In addition, the state control over the energy sector will be carried out through the corresponding branches.

The Azerbaijani Energy Regulatory Agency is a public legal entity established under the Energy Ministry under the presidential decree dated December 27, 2017. The electricity, heating and gas supplies fields are defined as the main activities of the Azerbaijan Energy Regulatory Agency.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10 brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

Currently, the work is underway to restore Azerbaijan’s liberated territories. Azerbaijan will carry out the restoration and reconstruction work on its recently-liberated territories in four stages. The initial stage includes the solution of the issues of governance and security, infrastructure, while the subsequent stages include the solution of the issues of social services activities, reconstruction and development of the economy.

The Azerbaijani government allocated AZN 2.2 billion ($1.3bn) for the reconstruction of the liberated territories in 2021. In particular, these funds will be used to restore the infrastructure (electricity, gas, water, communications, roads, education, health, etc), as well as cultural and historical monuments.