India, Azerbaijan discuss cooperation on renewable energy

The State Agency for Alternative & Renewable Energy is preparing a draft state strategy to be completed in about six months.

Top officials from India and Azerbaijan, the leading oil producer in the Commonwealth of Independent States, met recently to discuss cooperation in new and renewable energy.

Ibrahim Hajiyev, Azeri Ambassador to India, briefed Farooq Abdullah, India’s Minister for New and Renewable Energy, on the progress made in the energy sphere in Azerbaijan and said that Baku would be keen to cooperate with Delhi on renewable energy.

Abdullah, in turn, said India was ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan on solar, wind and geothermal energy. He said that a draft memorandum of understanding on the issue would be submitted to Azerbaijan in the near future. They also discussed economic cooperation between the two countries.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev last December ordered the development of a State Strategy on the Use of Alternative & Renewable Energy Sources for 2012-20. The State Agency for Alternative & Renewable Energy is preparing a draft state strategy to be completed in about six months.

Among the key areas in the strategy is the creation of regulatory framework in alternative and renewable energy sources the adoption of stimulus measures on use of alternative and renewable energy.