Green Deals

Azerbaijan's energy production accounts for 60% of the nation's economy. Elnur Soltanov, deputy energy minister of Azerbaijan and chief executive of COP29, was secretly recorded discussing "investment opportunities" in the state-owned fossil fuel company, the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). "We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed," he says. Soltanov was part of a media sting set up by an international anti-corruption group known as Global Witness. They created a fictitious company that professed to be interested in investing in SOCAR. "SOCAR Trading is trading oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia. To me, these are the possibilities to explore. But in any case this is something that you need to be talking to SOCAR, and I would be happy to create a contact between yourself and them," Soltanov was recorded as telling the fake company representative.Scamming the scammers...