The main focus of the meeting that was held between the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on Friday in Baku was the possibility of collaboration of the two countries in the energy sector.

Among other things, the two men discussed about the possibility of increasing the supply of Azerbaijani natural gas to Greece in case the crisis in Ukraine leads to the disruption of the existing supply.

The issue was raised by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Aliyev agreed that the technical details should be discussed further by the competent ministers from both countries.

After their 20-minute meeting, Samaras and Aliyev continued their discussion over a dinner hosted by Azerbaijan’s president. The two men agreed that Greece is emerging as an energy hub in southeastern Europe and underlined the important role of the Greek-Bulgarian pipeline.

The two leaders also reviewed the bilateral agreements signed in the energy sector and procedures for the timely implementation of the TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP, as well as the progress in the privatization of Greece’s Natural Gas System Operator DESFA via the transfer of a 66% share to Azerbaijan’s SOCAR.