00:02Mr President, great to see you as always.
00:05Over 40,000 people from 182 countries.
00:10This is the biggest event hosted in Azerbaijan since COP29.
00:15What does hosting WUF-13 mean for Azerbaijan
00:19in terms of their international role
00:22in shaping the future of sustainable urban development?
00:26So this really is a demonstration that the topic is important
00:32and the host country also is a country
00:37which has a lot of international connections.
00:40The level of participation and the number of heads of states
00:46and government demonstrate that today urban planning
00:49is really something which many leaders think about.
00:53And as I said in my remarks,
00:56the harmony between preservation of historical heritage
01:00and architectural heritage
01:02and need to modernize the cities should go hand by hand.
01:08Azerbaijan has presented smart city and green energy projects
01:13across Karabakh and also East Zangizu,
01:17both areas of post-conflict
01:20and their rebuilding of those areas.
01:22How can you see these projects contributing to global urban innovation?
01:29What can people learn from yourselves?
01:30I think that we have so far elaborated a unique experience
01:35how to build cities and villages from scratch.
01:38Connection of electricity grid to the whole country was organized.
01:4375 kilometers of tunnels out of which 70 kilometers already commissioned
01:51and 500 bridge, 435 of these bridges already done,
01:58railroads, schools, hospitals.
02:01So all goes in parallel.
02:03And the first years of reconstruction, mainly we invested in infrastructure.
02:09Now we mainly invest in housing.
02:12And the city plans, smart cities, smart village concept,
02:17plan for every village.
02:19All that is being done.
02:21So this really, for those countries which suffer the similar problems like we did,
02:27that could be a pattern for reconstruction.
02:30Now, Azerbaijan has also become a very important contributor to Europe's energy security.
02:37How do you see Azerbaijan's role evolving as Europe diversifies there?
02:42Yeah, we started our cooperation on energy track with Europe some time ago.
02:49Especially, they had a speed-up process after 2020,
02:54when we commissioned the Southern Gas Corridor,
02:57which today provides natural gas for 16 countries.
03:0210 members of the European Union are our clients.
03:06And in total, 12 countries from Europe are recipients of Azerbaijani gas.
03:11We need a premium market, which is Europe.
03:14And Europe needs an alternative source of supply, which is Azerbaijan.
03:18So we combine our efforts and establish a very fruitful cooperation with the European Commission.
03:24You have been a really big advocate for diplomacy and stability in the region and beyond.
03:31Now, the Hormuz crisis is impacting regional and global economies.
03:37How is Azerbaijan approaching and dealing with that?
03:40We are not affected by the crisis with respect to the supply chain,
03:47because our policy of diversification of energy supplies and routes is not a policy of today.
03:56As you mentioned, advocate for diplomacy.
03:58Without diplomacy, we wouldn't have been able to deliver our resources to the markets,
04:03because we had to go across the countries to have good relations with neighbors,
04:09with neighbors of the neighbors,
04:10established a multilateral format of cooperation,
04:15create a win-win situation between producers, transitors, consumers,
04:20so everyone obeys the rules.
04:23After the crisis is resolved, hopefully sooner than later,
04:28probably it will be a new situation.
04:30Many countries will reconsider their energy policy and the ways of delivery of energy supplies.
04:38and most probably Azerbaijan's geography and already assets will be needed more than today.
04:46Mr. President, always a pleasure to speak to you.
04:48Thank you so much for talking to us today, as always.
04:50Tchau, tchau.
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