Prime Minister Antonis Samaras arrived on Friday in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, where he is scheduled to meet today with the country’s president Ilham Aliyev.

The main issues that will be discussed during the meeting are the pipeline that will carry natural gas from Azerbaijan via Greece, as well as the progress of the agreement for the transfer of the majority stake in the Natural Gas System Operator DESFA. It should also be noted that Greece is Azerbaijan’s most important strategic partner in Europe.

Prime Minister Samaras is accompanied by Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Yiannis Maniatis, Deputy Energy Minister Assimakis Papageorgiou and government spokesperson Sofia Voultepsi.

On Saturday, the prime minister will attend the events marking the 20th anniversary since the signing of the agreements on the Shah Deniz natural gas field and a special event on the Southern Corridor pipeline network.

Delegations from Turkey, Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia and UK have also arrived in Baku to attend the events. On the sidelines of the events, Prime Minister Samaras will have meetings with foreign leaders.