CEEC Chairman Song Hailiang on May 14 held talks with Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. They had in-depth discussions on deepening practical cooperation in renewable energy, and promoting energy transition and green development of Azerbaijan.

Song expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan for the care and support it has shown to CEEC.

He said that CEEC is a mega group that provides systematic, integrated, full-cycle, and one-stop development solutions and services for Chinese and even the world's energy, power, and infrastructure industries, and an innovation-driven enterprise focusing on technology, energy, infrastructure and integrated development.

The group is currently accelerating its four major transformations towards innovation-driven, green and low-carbon, digital, as well as shared and integrated development, building platforms for new energy, new infrastructure, new industry and new materials in a systematic manner, Song noted.

He said CEEC is ready to fully leverage its advantages in integrated investment, construction and operation, consulting and planning, as well as cross-industry development, and utilize platforms such as the International Investment Alliance for Renewable Energy, to deeply engage in optimizing Azerbaijan's power system, constructing green energy corridors, and developing offshore wind power, photovoltaics, hydrogen energy, new energy storage and other industries, thus providing Chinese wisdom and CEEC solutions to green, low-carbon transformation and upgrading of Azerbaijan's energy structure.

It is hoped that both sides would further deepen communication, tap into key cooperation areas, and focus on key directions, important fields and major projects, to explore more new scenarios and models, and set new examples and benchmarks for cooperation between the two sides, Song added.

Shahbazov welcomed Song and the CEEC delegation, briefing them on Azerbaijan's plans and goals of energy development.

He said as a traditional major source of oil and gas, Azerbaijan is actively promoting the development of renewable energy, accelerating its green and low-carbon transformation, and further enhancing its connectivity with neighboring countries. He believes this has created vast opportunities for Chinese companies to develop in Azerbaijan.

Noting that CEEC is one of the world's largest enterprises in energy infrastructure with outstanding comprehensive capability and advantages in integrated development, the minister said he hopes the Chinese enterprise could give full play to such advantages, provide systematic and integrated solutions to Azerbaijan's energy transformation, actively participate in the country's power system construction, continue to expand investment in Azerbaijan's clean energy sector, and cooperate with the country to introduce the new energy industrial chain and promote green hydrogen exports.

Shahbazov hopes that the two sides could establish a taskforce to plan and develop a batch of practical cooperation projects, stressing that the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan will provide solid support for CEEC's development in the country.

The meeting was joined by heads of relevant departments from both sides.