Leaders from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, and Hungary signed an agreement on Saturday to install an underwater electric cable under the Black Sea to deliver green Azeri energy to Europe. This agreement involves a 685-mile electric cable of 1,000 MW under the Black Sea leading from Azerbaijan to Romania.
The agreement is aimed at supplying Europe with green energy, thereby enabling the continent to diversify its energy resources away from Russia amid European sanctions over the Ukraine war.
“Given the current security context marked by the military aggression against Ukraine we need to cooperate better and show more solidarity to mitigate common challenges,” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis stated at the meeting. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was also in attendance.
According to von der Leyen, this meeting shows that the European Union’s strategy to diversify its energy to what she called “reliable energy partners” is working. In addition, von der Leyen offered the EU’s financial support for the project pending the outcome of a feasibility study.
Von der Leyen believes that the Black Sea cable can transform Georgia into an electricity hub while also reconstructing Ukraine’s energy system.