President Klaus Iohannis is paying an official visit to Azerbaijan on February 2-3, at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev, according to a press release from the Romanian Presidency.

During the visit, Iohannis will open, together with Aliyev, the Ministerial Meeting of the Consultative Council of the Southern Gas Corridor.

The visit takes place in the context of Romania's attempts to secure the necessary quantities of gas from Azerbaijan to replace imports from Russia at more favourable costs for Romania. The discussions date back over a year, but no contract has been concluded between Romania and Azerbaijan.

The two presidents will discuss the development of bilateral cooperation in areas such as energy, transport, trade, investment, digitization, agriculture, education and culture, according to the quoted statement. They will assess the state of implementation of regional interconnection projects such as the submarine electricity transmission cable.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)