On May 18, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to Euronews TV, News.Az reports, citing AZERTAC.

- Mr. President, great to see you as always. Over 40,000 people from 182 countries – this is the second largest event in Azerbaijan since COP29. What does hosting WUF13 mean for Azerbaijan in terms of its international role in shaping the future of sustainable urban development?

- For us, of course, it's a great honor to be the host country for WUF13. 182 countries have gathered here. And this is a good demonstration of respect for Azerbaijan. And as far as I know, the number of participants is at a record high. So this really is a demonstration that the topic is important and the host country also is a country which has a lot of international connections.

And of course, for us, it's also an opportunity to report to the audience and to the international community about what has been done so far, what our plans are, and also to learn from our partners. Because the level of participation and the number of heads of state and government demonstrate that today urban planning is really something that many leaders think about. And as I said in my remarks, harmony between the preservation of historical heritage and architectural heritage and the need to modernize the cities should go hand in hand.

- Well, obviously, Azerbaijan has presented smart city and green energy projects across Garabagh and also East Zangezur, both areas of post-conflict, and their rebuilding of those areas. How can you see these projects contributing to global urban innovation? What can people learn from you? You talk about other people.

- I think that we have so far elaborated a unique experience in how to build cities and villages from scratch. It was unfortunately due to the large-scale devastation of the occupied territories, so we had to do it. So the step-by-step approach, and in some cases a parallel track on development, led to the fact that in five years' time we already have 85,000 people returned.

So electricity is number one. So far we have already commissioned 307 megawatts of hydropower, and 340 megawatts of solar power is under construction right now. So this will be enough not only for Garabagh and East Zangezur, but for a much broader area. Also, the connection of the electricity grid to the whole country was organized. There are 75 kilometers of tunnels, out of which 70 kilometers have already been commissioned. And out of 500 bridges, 435 of them are already done.

Railroads, schools, hospitals – so, all this goes in parallel. And during the first years of reconstruction, we mainly invested in infrastructure. Now we mainly invest in housing. And the city plans, “smart cities”, “smart village” concept, plan for every village, all that is being done. So this really, for those countries which suffered similar problems like we did, could be a pattern for reconstruction.

- A blueprint, so to speak, for the rest of the world to follow suit, which is amazing. Now Azerbaijan has also become a very important contributor to Europe's energy security. How do you see Azerbaijan's role evolving as Europe diversifies that?

- We started our cooperation on the energy track with Europe some time ago. Especially it had a “speed-up” process after 2020, when we commissioned the Southern Gas Corridor, which today provides natural gas for 16 countries. In terms of the number of countries to which we supply gas via pipelines, we are number one. The number is growing. Ten members of the European Union are our clients. And in total, 12 countries from Europe are recipients of Azerbaijani gas. The number of countries is growing. The number of requests for us to start cooperation is growing.

And fortunately, we did our homework with the pipeline infrastructure and also with the upstream. So now the level of production is going up. Very soon, probably in the beginning of next month, we will report about the beginning of gas production from the new field. So it's a win-win situation. We need a premium market, which is Europe. And Europe needs an alternative source of supply, which is Azerbaijan. So we combined our efforts and established a very fruitful cooperation with the European Commission.

- Thank you. You have been a really big advocate for diplomacy and stability in the region and beyond. Now the Hormuz crisis is impacting regional and global economies.How is Azerbaijan approaching and dealing with that?

- We are not affected by the crisis with respect to the supply chain because our policy of diversification of energy supplies and routes is not a policy of today. For many years, we have been pursuing it and we managed together with our partners, with the neighbors, to build a diversified supply chain, whether it's oil, gas, electricity, or connectivity.

Of course, what is happening now in the Middle East, to a certain degree, influences everybody because some may think that a high oil price could be beneficial. Yes, it is. But at the same time, countries which are rich in oil reserves, many of them are investing in the treasuries. Many of them are investing in stock markets. And when this turbulence happens, the stock market goes down. So we lose money from our investments while earning a little bit from the high oil price. So everybody is affected by that.

But from the point of view of our own energy projects, no, we are on the safe side. And we always, as you mentioned, advocate for diplomacy. Without diplomacy, we wouldn't have been able to deliver our resources to the markets. Because we had to go across countries, to have good relations with neighbors, with neighbors of the neighbors, establish a multilateral format of cooperation, create a win-win situation between producers, transitors, consumers, so everyone obeys the rules and everyone gets a profit.

So from this point of view, I think the experience of Azerbaijan can be useful. After the crisis is resolved, hopefully sooner than later, probably it will be a new situation. Many countries will reconsider their energy policy and the ways of delivery of energy supplies. And most probably, Azerbaijan's geography and already assets will be needed more than today.

News.Az