Opening the Baku meeting with a greeting to participants, Minister of ecology and natural resources of Azerbaijan Huseyn Bagirov noted that there is a full consensus on the question of the realization of the BTC project in Azerbaijan. Both authorities and the opposition support the project and it gives this project a national status. “There is a full mutual understanding with British Petroleum, the operator company of the BTC project regarding environmental issues, in order to ease the ecological impact caused by exploration works and transportations of hydrocarbons”.

The IFC has approved the allocation of credit (the planned volume of credit will be US$150 million) for the civil engineering design of the BTC pipeline for October – November of this year. This was officially declared by executive vice-president of corporation Peter Woicke during his recent visit to Baku. According to the representative of the EBRD, Charlotte Philipps, the financial structures scrupulously estimate the possible results of projects of the size and magnitude of BTC on the natural and social environment.

The EBRD considers questions of allocation of credits under two projects. One is the development of the Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli (ACG) deposits, and another is the construction of the BTC pipeline. In this case the credit is in the amount of US$400-600 million by the EBRD, IFC and a number of commercial banks. Another US$100 million dollars are to be allocated for the Shah-Deniz project, and US$60 million for the South Caucasus gas pipeline. Decision-making on BTC crediting is expected in the fourth quarter of this year, and on Shah-Deniz, in the first quarter of 2004, according to Ms. Philipps.

In the opinion of experts, the local population will benefit from the realization of these projects. Jobs will be created, and the country’s infrastructure will be improved. During the recent meeting, the issues of environmental security, social benefits of the project, and threats of acts of terrorism on the route of the BTC pipeline were also mentioned. According to the head of the Azerbaijani society for the protection of animals Azer Garayev, the estimation of the environmental and social impact of BTC is the first document in Azerbaijan where these issues are mentioned.

Representatives of the public were invited to a meeting together with NGO representatives worried of the possible leakage of oil. They recalled that the route of BTC passes via the territory of the well-known Gobustan historical are 50 km West of Baku, which aggravates the problem. The EBRD and the IFC nevertheless did not consider this a major risk. On the whole, all NGO representatives who made speeches noted the importance of the project for Azerbaijan and declared they entirely support the allocation of credits for BTC. According to the head of the NGO Forum of Azerbaijan Azay Guliev, this meeting could put an end to all efforts of the organizations opposing BTC. Recently a group of the European NGOs opposing the construction of the BTC pipeline directed a petition to international financial institutions in order to freeze the financing of this project.

Participants of the meeting emphasized the importance of BTC security and its protection against possible acts of terrorism, requiring a joint Azerbaijani- Georgian –Turkish security approach. In addition to the cited meeting, negotiations took place in Baku on Kazakhstan’s participation in the BTC project. Within this framework, the projected intergovernmental agreement between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on pumping Kazakhstan’s oil through the BTC pipeline took place.

After signing the intergovernmental agreement, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are to prepare a document on the transit of oil. According to experts, Kazakhstan’s oil will be fed into BTC in approximately 2007-2010, and the peak of pumping of Kazakhstan’s oil through Azerbaijan will be in 2010.