The Meeting was organized by the Republic of Turkey and was attended by the representatives of both countries. First time sides invited the Republic of Azerbaijan to the subject Meeting, to assess possible cooperation opportunities in further stage of project. The ECO Secretariat facilitated the event and took part in the meeting by extending its vision and presentation on the status of electricity interconnections in Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Ambassador Dr. Huseyin Avni Bicakli, Deputy Secretary General, while delivering the opening remarks, stated that enhancement of regional electricity trade can initially be realized via strengthening intra-regional trade in sub-regional markets, where an interconnected grid already exists but much needs to be adjusted to ensure adequate supplies of energy and security of supply. Another important advantageous element in interconnecting the power systems of the ECO Member States is the potential of regional power exchange, instead of only as a power export opportunity for the ECO Member States. He also clarified that role of international partners is instrumental to attract financial and technical support to the ECO-REM Project.
Dr. Öztürk Selvitop, Director General of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey, stressed in his opening remarks the importance of energy supply security and ensuring the stability and flexibility of the countries' energy sector, in particular with key significan of interconnections. Also, he emphasized efforts for evaluating and improving opportunities for international collaboration.
On behalf of Iranian delegation, Mr. Mohammad Ali Farahnakian, Adviser to the Minister for International Affairs and Head of the Center for International Affairs and Coordination of Water and Electricity Diplomacy, Ministry of Energy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, mentioned that Iran Ministry of Energy will comprehensively support initiating the ECO-REM. He emphasized that based on the previous agreements, initiating a pilot electricity market between Iran and Turkey can speed up the development of the overall ECO-REM idea.
The experts from Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey, as well as ECO Secretariat delivered presentations covering the issues such as, recent developments in the electricity market of ECO region, regional electricity interconnection status and system operation activities.
The Meeting decided that the Secretariat will review the Terms of References (ToRs) of the project to be updated based on the recent developments; Participating parties will examine updates ToR and the Republic of Azerbaijan will consider assessing its possible contribution within further stages.