By Trend

Azerbaijan is becoming a much more significant player in the European energy market, ex-President of Serbia Boris Tadic told Trend in an exclusive interview.

“Azerbaijan is becoming a more valuable partner amid the global energy crisis. With building TANAP and TAP, Azerbaijan already has been and can play a much more significant role in the future in this regard,” he said.

As Tadic noted, hopefully, Serbia will get a chance to connect to the pipeline and get Azerbaijani gas in the upcoming years.

“I was always in favor of diversification of energy supplies. It is natural that Azerbaijan has now become the most valuable energy partner for Serbia. The fact that my country did not approach the TANAP project earlier is very disappointing. I was suggesting building the interconnector with Bulgaria even during my term as a president, and I am glad that Serbia is finally approaching this project. This is of interest to both European countries, and Azerbaijan. It will be possible for Azerbaijani gas to reach not only Italy but all the countries on the way,” he added.

“I do not expect that Southeastern Europe will be highly interested in the LNG imports, such as from Norway because it is too far and complicated. In general, after Russia is under sanctions, Azerbaijan is going to be a much more important player in the European energy market,” Tadic said.

The ex-president also added that there are huge opportunities in many aspects of the gas industry for Azerbaijan and Serbia.

“Serbia, being one of the central players in terms of production of food, may cooperate with Azerbaijan in fertilizers production, which is very important for the agriculture sector and food security,” he said.

Speaking about the renewable energy sector, Tadic noted that the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Serbia lays the foundation for strong cooperation toward clean energy transition.

“Investments in clean energy are very important both for Serbia, and Azerbaijan. My vision of expanding our bilateral relations with Azerbaijan has always been beyond the traditional energy sector. Counting on the gas industry only means losing other opportunities. Azerbaijan has a huge capacity in solar and wind energy, in which Serbia is also highly interested,” he said.

According to the former head of state, there is a huge potential for the two countries to cooperate in many aspects of the gas industry, in particular, in the construction of gas power plants, which are much better for the environment than the ones using coal.

“We need two big gas power plants in Serbia, and I am strongly suggesting to our leadership and Azerbaijani leadership to take this into consideration in the future,” Tadic said.

Further speaking, the ex-president noted that the cooperation between the private sector of Azerbaijan and Serbia is of most importance for the partnership between the two countries.

Serbia wants to see active cooperation not only between two friendly countries but also between friendly businesses. Various fields, such as energy, software and modern technologies, education, agriculture, and the pharmaceutical industry can be one of the many promising sectors within the partnership with Azerbaijan, he said.

“Both of our countries have a lot of talented people. We have to cooperate in exchanging knowledge within our human resources. Big countries tend to underestimate smaller countries, and we have two think about how we can assist each other and succeed in such fields, where the big players do not expect us,” he added.

Touching upon the IX Global Baku Forum on "Challenges to the Global World Order" organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, the ex-president pointed out its importance in terms of finding solutions amid the global challenges.

“If the world is going to be even more complicated than today, then the importance of such events as the Global Baku Forum will be very high,” Tadic concluded.