Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Bulgaria could sign an intergovernmental agreement in November to advance a regional project for cross-border transmission and trade of green electricity, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Friday.
Speaking at the Azerbaijan-Türkiye Energy Forum in Baku, Bayraktar said the deal could be signed during the COP31 climate conference, which will be held in southern Antalya in November.
The Green Electricity Transmission and Trade Project, bringing together Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Bulgaria, represents an important regional vision, the minister said.
He described the project as the "TANAP of electricity," referring to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, and said it should be viewed not simply as an infrastructure project but as a strategic step toward long-term regional energy cooperation based on mutual benefit.
"We want to move this important project to the next stage as soon as possible," Bayraktar said. "At COP31 in Antalya, we want to crown this project with an important signing process, perhaps through an intergovernmental agreement signed by our heads of state or by us."
With electrification becoming an increasingly important part of the global energy agenda, the project would be an important initiative that Türkiye and Azerbaijan could present to the world, he added.
Bayraktar said Türkiye's infrastructure and strategic location had made it one of the region's key energy hubs and that the country was diversifying regional energy infrastructure through interconnection and other new projects.
Such efforts would continue to contribute to the energy security of Türkiye and Azerbaijan as well as that of the wider region, particularly Europe, he said.
"We believe that every new step we take in the energy sector brings our countries a little closer together," Bayraktar said, adding that energy cooperation would continue to contribute to the two countries' shared prosperity and regional development.
Bayraktar meanwhile also said initial studies had been completed for a planned electricity connection between Türkiye and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan region, with technical assessments identifying the most feasible option.
System operators are conducting additional feasibility studies to prepare the project for implementation, he said. He did not give a construction timetable.
The connection would improve electricity supply reliability and deepen energy cooperation between the two countries, Bayraktar said.
Interconnected grids can strengthen supply security, improve the use of resources, accommodate more renewable energy and open new opportunities for electricity trade, he said.
Cooperation with Azerbaijan now extends beyond oil and natural gas to mining, renewable energy, energy efficiency and electricity markets, transmission and distribution, said Bayraktar.
