Azerbaijan will support the implementation of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline if the Turkmen authorities decide to build it, but Baku will not initiate the project, President Ilham Aliyev said, Interfax reports.

 «As for the construction project of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, it has been discussed for many years. It has been discussed for 15 years, but no practical steps have been taken to implement it», he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

 According to him, the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is not a project of Azerbaijan. «This project is based on the resources of Turkmenistan. Therefore, if the government of Turkmenistan decides to build this gas pipeline, it will be their decision. If they make such a decision, then, of course, we will support them. But we will not be the initiators here», Aliyev said.

 He added that Azerbaijan once initiated the implementation of major regional oil and gas projects: the construction of the Southern Gas Corridor, the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline.  According to him, for the implementation of these projects, Azerbaijan created a team, held negotiations with foreign states, consumers, companies.  «Azerbaijan also acted as the main investor», - the president said.

 «I want to say that the initiators of such projects are not transit countries, but the owners of resources,» Aliyev noted. «Transit countries can only provide support, provide territory, and decide on transit tariffs».

 He also said that Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are currently discussing the joint development of the Dostlug field in the Caspian.  As the President of Azerbaijan explained, «this is not a gas field, it is mainly an oil field».