Azerbaijan offers Europe more gas as Aliyev meets Costa in Dublin

Ilham Aliyev used the 9th European Political Community Summit in Dublin on Thursday to promise Europe more and more diversified energy supplies, beyond the 10 EU member states Azerbaijan currently reaches.

Aliyev held talks with European Council President Antonio Costa on long-term energy contracts, an Azerbaijani presidency statement said, noting that these discussions continued successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union in gas supplies. Costa declared that "the resumption of negotiations on a new EU-Azerbaijan agreement is good news for our citizens", and called it "an important year for EU-Azerbaijan relations". He added that with peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia now a reality, "the EU is also investing to ensure that people across the region benefit".

Aliyev said Azerbaijan had increased gas supplies to the European Union from 8 billion cubic meters to 13 billion cubic meters, nearly half of its exports, and that new field discoveries would allow further increases. The Baku-to-Italy pipeline, which crosses seven countries and supplies 10 EU member states through interconnectors in Bulgaria, is running at full capacity and Baku intends to expand it. Cooperation is also moving into renewable energy, with an agreement between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Bulgaria on exporting renewable power to European markets.

Costa and Aliyev said the EU's assessment of the Nakhchivan railway project would be completed soon, and discussed transport links within the Middle Corridor connecting Asia to Europe through the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Costa invited Aliyev to Brussels to continue the discussions.

In Dublin, Aliyev and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership. The UK is the largest European investor in Azerbaijan's economy, historically driven by BP's Caspian operations. The framework covers defence and security, trade and investment, renewable energy, infrastructure and artificial intelligence, and commits both sides to "strengthening cooperation in defence and security in support of regional peace and stability".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a "detailed discussion" with Aliyev on emergency support for Ukraine's battered energy grid ahead of winter. Zelenskyy confirmed contracts signed under a bilateral drone agreement, saying "we are working to scale up orders". Officials confirmed a €1.35 million emergency grid support package of heavy electrical equipment and generators; total Azerbaijani humanitarian aid to Ukraine has reached €48 million.

Aliyev also met Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on border delimitation, water cooperation and electricity grid interconnection, and on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity project. Since November 2025, 105,000 tonnes of cargo have been transported to Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed upgrading the Southern Gas Corridor with Aliyev.