BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 30. Romania has proposed reviving the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) project to facilitate future deliveries of Turkmen natural gas to Europe.
The proposal was made during a meeting between President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania Mihai Daraban and Turkmenistan's Ambassador to Romania Annamammet Annayev, according to a press release published by the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR).
According to the chamber, the two sides discussed expanding bilateral economic cooperation, with particular emphasis on the energy sector and port-to-port cooperation between the ports of Constanța and Turkmenbashi.
Daraban also reiterated his proposal to resume the AGRI project, which could provide European markets with access to natural gas from the Caspian region, starting with Turkmenistan.
"The Port of Constanța can become the entry point for natural gas from Turkmenistan to Europe by connecting to the transport infrastructure in Azerbaijan and Georgia and, subsequently, to the BRUA pipeline," Daraban said.
During the meeting, Ambassador Annayev presented Turkmenistan's economic potential, highlighting GDP growth of 6.3% in the first half of 2026 and the country's position as the world's fourth-largest holder of proven natural gas reserves, CCIR noted.
"Port-to-port cooperation between Turkmenbashi and Constanța, together with the project to establish a regional distribution centre for Turkmen products at the Port of Constanța, can become a strategic pillar of the economic relationship between the two countries," Annayev said.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) is a long-discussed project designed to transport Caspian natural gas to Europe by pipeline to Georgia's Black Sea coast, where it would be liquefied, shipped by tanker to Romania's Port of Constanța, regasified, and then delivered to European consumers. One of the key downstream links for distributing these volumes is the BRUA gas corridor (Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria), which connects Romania's transmission system with Central European markets and was developed specifically to diversify Europe's gas supply sources and strengthen regional energy security.
Against this backdrop, Turkmenistan has in recent months renewed its efforts to advance exports of natural gas to Europe. Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in April, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov said one of Ashgabat's key energy priorities is supplying natural gas to European markets. "15-20 years ago we had very good cooperation with our European colleagues, and we did a lot to practically implement a number of ideas for delivering Turkmen natural gas to Europe," he said.
In parallel, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Türkmen Dünýäsi", Batyr Muradov, told Trend that Turkmenistan is considering the possibility of exporting natural gas to Europe via Azerbaijan.
