Discover moreOnline newspaper archivesZimbabwean culture magazineCourtsPARLIAMENT Speaker Jacob Mudenda has concluded a bilateral visit to Azerbaijan with a high-level meeting with Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov, as Zimbabwe seeks to tap into Baku's energy expertise to address its power deficit.

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The meeting, last Thursday followed engagements with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, led by President Rovshan Najaf.

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Discussions focused on how Azerbaijan's energy milestones can be adapted to Zimbabwe, with emphasis on renewable energy integration, balanced climate policy, legislative frameworks, and academic collaboration.

Mudenda said the delegation was on a strategic learning mission to study Azerbaijan's energy ecosystem with the goal of fast-tracking Zimbabwe's industrialisation and modernisation.

He noted that "while Zimbabwe has made gains in energy supply, there is an urgent need to scale up renewables to extricate the country from current challenges and accelerate economic growth."

Minister Shahbazov gave an overview of Azerbaijan's energy mix, which relies on hydropower, gas and solar, and highlighted Zimbabwe's advantage of extended sunlight hours for solar generation.

He outlined Baku's progress: "Contracts for 11 new power stations, with two already on the national grid, two more due in 2026 and the rest by 2027."

Shahbazov added that the projects will add 2,000 MW of renewable energy and save 1.1 million cubic meters of natural gas for export.

Azerbaijan is targeting 40% renewable energy in the grid by 2035 and is already exporting power to European capitals via Caspian and Black Sea infrastructure.

Shahbazov, however, cautioned that "while renewables are the future, 80% of global energy demand is still met by fossil fuels, creating challenges for baseline power stability."

Mudenda echoed concerns about blanket climate restrictions, arguing that "Africa must be allowed to utilize its resources, including coal, through calibrated carbon sequestration in line with science-based environmental standards.

He also noted that Zimbabwean universities are working on converting emissions into hydrogen and on lithium battery production to reduce oil dependence in transport.

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Both leaders stressed the role of academia and legislation.

Shahbazov offered to host workshops for Zimbabwean legislators, legal experts and energy specialists, and pledged to share laws governing Artificial Intelligence (AI) climate change and biodiversity in the energy sector whilst Mudenda said appropriate legislation was key to attracting investment, noting Azerbaijan's framework has successfully drawn financial engineering into energy.