Negotiations to Start in Brussels on New Agreement between EU and Azerbaijan

Negotiations on a new partnership agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan will start in Brussels on Tuesday, President Ilham Aliyev said on February 6 in the joint statement with the head of the EU Council Donald Tusk for the media in Brussels.

“I wish success to the negotiators and I hope they will save time and start tomorrow and will soon present a document that will determine the strategic cooperation between us for years to come,” Aliyev said.

He drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan has already signed or adopted documents on strategic partnership with nine countries. And it is a good basis for a future agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Aliyev pointed to the great potential for cooperation. “We have a very active political dialogue, and we regularly meet and discuss important political events and political reforms in our country. We are committed to the continuation of democratic reforms in Azerbaijan to provide more opportunities for all citizens of our country,” Aliyev said.

Referring to the energy cooperation, Aliyev said the sides are working on the promotion of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the largest infrastructure projects currently underway in Europe.

The realization of this project required an investment of more than $ 40 billion, Aliyev said.

According to him, Azerbaijan with its vast natural gas reserves is a new alternative source of natural gas for the European market.

The Azerbaijani President stressed that during the meeting the sides discussed issues of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“I once again said that for many years our lands are under occupation. Armenia occupies almost 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory, violating all humanitarian norms and the norms of international law,” Aliyev said.

According to him, Armenia also does not fulfill four UN Security Council resolutions adopted in the early 1990s, which require the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories.

Aliyev thanked Tusk for the confirmation of EU support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

According to him, the sides also discussed the great potential for cooperation in the field of transport.

“Azerbaijan has invested a lot in the creation of a new rail link in the region,” Aliyev said, referring to the Baku-Tbilisi-.Kars railroad. He expressed the hope that this new route connecting Asia and Europe will be maintained and will help to reduce the time of delivery of goods from Europe to Asia and back almost twofold.   -06D--.