ADVERTISEMENT
Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates announced the joint decision to build three major solar and wind projects in Azerbaijan with a capacity of 1 GW, with a ground-breaking ceremony on the sidelines of the Baku Energy Forum on Tuesday.
Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan told Euronews this event “actually demonstrates our green agenda and also demonstrates that our position is attractive not only for those who invest in fossil fuels, but also for those who invest in renewables. Masdar is our strategic partner in the area of renewable energy.”
The projects include a 445 MW solar plant in Bilasuvar, a 315 MW solar plant in Neftchala, and a 240 MW wind farm in Absheron-Garadagh. The plants are expected to produce an average annual output of a total of 2 billion 3025 million kWh of electricity, in turn saving 496 million cubic metres of natural gas per year and preventing more than 943 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Chairman of Masdar and COP28 President said in his address, "We are proud to partner with Azerbaijan on this significant expansion of its renewable energy capacity and to support Azerbaijan’s journey toward energy diversification, stimulating new industries, new jobs and sustainable economic growth.”
EU gas diversification and Azerbaijan's green energy commitment on agenda at Baku meetings
The announcement comes as Azerbaijan prepares to host COP29 in Baku in November taking over the mantle from the UAE. Sultan Al Jaber added, “A key pillar of the historic UAE consensus is the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. We need many more partnerships like these to ensure a just, orderly and equitable energy transition that keeps 1.5 within reach."
His comments resonated heavily with President Aliyev who also told Euronews, “It really demonstrates how a country which generated wealth from fossil fuels now is channelling this wealth into the renewable energy and as a host country of Cop 29, this is also our obligation to be among the frontrunners on the green transition.”
There were also calls for switching to cleaner energy solutions, advancements in AI as well as ensuring economic growth in developing countries to help accelerate climate positive sustainable development, as over 300 companies from 37 countries came together for one of the most important events on the global energy sector calendar.
ADVERTISEMENT
A 26-year-old Russian-Ukrainian man was arrested on Tuesday evening on suspicion of plotting an attack using homemade explosives, French media reported on Wednesday.
The suspect, questioned at the local hospital, is said to have been seriously injured while handling a device made from TATP, a powerful homemade explosive, in a nearby hotel.
The police have found components used for making an improvised explosive device in his hotel room, according to reports.
The suspect is being interviewed by the French security agency DGSI, according to Le Figaro. He is said to be a Russian speaker from the Donbas region of Ukraine.
The Donbas, in the east of Ukraine, has been the site of the initial Russian invasion in 2014, when Moscow aided and abetted the local pro-Russian separatists.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, parts of the Donbas — together with two other occupied Ukrainian oblasts, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — have been unilaterally annexed by the Kremlin, a decision rejected by Kyiv and the international community.
Authorities are investigating suspicions that the suspect may have planned an attack on a cargo flight bound for Ukraine departing from Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport near Paris, the reports said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico posted a speech online on Wednesday in his first appearance since he was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt three weeks ago.
In a pre-recording speech posted on his Facebook ahead of the European Parliament election, Fico said the attack caused serious damage to his health and that “it will be a small miracle if I return to work in several weeks.”
"It's time to take the first step, which is forgiveness. I feel no hatred towards the strangers who shot me," Slovakian PM said.
"I will not take any active legal action against him or seek damage compensation. I forgive him and let him sort out what he did and why he did it in his own head. In the end, it is obvious that he was merely a messenger of the evil and political hatred that a politically unsuccessful and frustrated opposition has developed to unmanageable proportions in Slovakia."
Fico has been recovering from multiple wounds after being shot in the abdomen as he greeted supporters on May 15 in the town of Handlova, about 140 kilometres northeast of the capital, Bratislava. An assailant was arrested.
Fico said he should be back to work on the turn of June and July, and that he felt “no hatred” towards his attacker. “I forgive him," he said.