The opening remarks were delivered by Mr Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan, and Energy Charter Secretary General Dr Urban Rusnák. This was followed by the high-level addresses from the heads of the delegations. The Forum aimed at discussing the role of regulatory frameworks and technologies in promoting sustainable energy. The representatives of the governments and international organisations highlighted different approaches to facilitate the energy transition while industry representatives shared their best practices and lessons learnt in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Regional energy cooperation in different parts of the Energy Charter constituency was also discussed as an essential element of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals.

Deputy Minister of Energy Mr Samir Valiyev concluded the event by stressing the importance of international energy cooperation and the role of the International Energy Charter. He also highlighted the priorities of the Chairmanship of Azerbaijan for the Energy Charter Conference in 2020 in line with their strong political will to create a liberal energy market and expressed the readiness of Azerbaijan to take over the responsibilities from Albania at the 30th Meeting of the Conference in Tirana on 10-11 December 2019.