On September 4, the 13th Caspian Energy Forum — one of the region’s most significant business gatherings — was held at Hilton Batumi, co-organized by Forbes Georgia and the Caspian Energy Club. The event drew up to 100 high-level guests from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and across the wider Black Sea-Caspian region.
The annual event aimed to strengthen cooperation in energy, logistics, and transport while addressing pressing business challenges. With its Davos-style format, the forum offered keynote speeches, expert panel discussions, CEO tours, and networking opportunities designed to spark long-term partnerships.
This year’s forum also marked the beginning of a new media and business partnership. Forbes Georgia and the Caspian Energy Club signed a Memorandum of Cooperation, represented by Shota Digmelashvili, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Georgia and Director of JSC Media Partners, and Gunel Gulieva, Managing Director of the Caspian Energy Club.
Shota Digmelashvili described the collaboration as the launch of “a new intellectual and economic dialogue between the private sectors of the Caspian and Black Sea regions.” Gulieva added that working with Forbes Georgia was “a step toward unifying regional efforts, building a sustainable media system, and shaping a long-term communication agenda.”
The initiative was supported by the Azerbaijan Business Association and regional organizations, with sponsorship from PASHA Bank, SOCAR, CMC, Achar Energy, CCEH, and Caspian Service.
The day’s agenda featured two presentations and three panel discussions exploring the future of energy and investment in the region.
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Georgia as a Strategic Energy Corridor was the subject of a presentation by Giorgi Abramishvili, Chairman of the Georgian Renewable Energy Development Association.
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ESG in Practice was presented by Nana Berdzenishvili, Head of ESG and Sustainability at CCEH.
Panels brought together business leaders and energy experts to exchange ideas:
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Green Energy: Production, Transmission & Financing was moderated by Dr. Levan Vepkhvadze, Executive Director of the Business Association of Georgia, with contributions from Çağatay Ülker of Achar Energy and Elmir Musayev of SOCAR Green.
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Energy Meets Tech – Smart Infrastructure and Innovation featured Davit Tsitskishvili of Tsitsko Holding, Tornike Darjania of Helios Energy, Murman Pataraia of Biodiesel Georgia, and lawyer Levan Kokaia of GREDA.
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Investing in the Future of Green Energy: What Global Investors Should Know was moderated by GREDA’s CEO Maia Melikidze, with insights from Nadir Babazade of ABB Invest, Mariam Chakhvashvili of Galt & Taggart, and Andro Tvaliashvili of TBC Capital.
The program extended beyond conference walls with two CEO tours to regional hydropower plants. Guests visited the Bakhvi HPP cascade on the Bakhvi River, organized by Caucasus Clean Energy Holding, and the Kirnati HPP on the Chorokh River, supported by Achar Energy. The day closed with a networking dinner, where participants had the chance to build connections across borders and sectors.
The Caspian Energy Forum, launched by the Caspian Energy Club more than two decades ago, has become a fixture in regional business calendars. With a network of over 5,000 companies across 50 countries, the club organizes forums in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and Georgia.
For Batumi, chosen this year for its strategic location on the Black Sea, the forum provided not just a platform for discussion but also a window into the future of regional energy cooperation.
