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BAKU-BRUSSELS (Azerbaijan-European Union relations)
Statements of President Ilham Aliyev and President
of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso
for media representatives
April 28, 2009
Statement by President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to welcome President Aliyev in Brussels again. Last time we met
here in Brussels when we signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation
in the field of energy. And today we had very good, very constructive and open
meeting. I want to thank you for frankness and openness in our talk.
Azerbaijan is very important partner in the South Caucasus region. And I am con-
vinced that intensifying of our cooperation will be essential to both parties. Already
10 years of implementation of Partnership and Cooperation Agreement constitutes
a solid basis. European Union has become Azerbaijan`s main trade partner with
nearly 30 percent of Azerbaijan`s overall external trade. Azerbaijan`s economy has
constituted important growth figures in the last years. This growth was 10, 8 percent
in 2008 mainly due to oil and gas sector. But the current financial and economic cri-
sis imposes challenge on this development. And in this sense diversification of the
economy is, of course, critical for Azerbaijan`s long term development. We agree
that we can and we want to move forward in our relations. That was stressed in my
meeting with Mr. Aliyev, and the “Eastern Partnership” that will be launched in few
days in Prague provides that opportunity.
I have also urged the importance of making further progress in regional stabil-
ity. I have also shared with him my ideas and ideas of the European Commission
regarding the stability. We believe energy can be a very important factor for close
relationship between the European Union and Azerbaijan. We share this view that
we must strengthen our cooperation.
As you know, security is the top priority of the European Union, and Azerbai-
jan is a key partner both as a producer and a transit country. And I want to thank
President Aliyev for his analysis of the situation. I specifically discussed Nabucco
with President Aliyev. This project is very important for the region and for whole
Europe. In this sense, I welcome the fact that Azerbaijan has taken difficult and
courageous decisions in the energy policy. We think this is concrete field where the
EU and Azerbaijan can have concrete benefits. So, our overall message is – yes, we
want to work together with Azerbaijan in many fields. We welcome all steps made
by Azerbaijan to have a closer relationship with Europe. And I think that is both in
the interest of Azerbaijan and the EU as a whole.
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BAKU-BRUSSELS (Azerbaijan-European Union relations)
Statement by President Ilham Aliyev
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank Mr. President for invitation to visit Brussels
again. I remember the last visit when we signed the Memorandum on strategic en-
ergy partnership and since that time relations between the EU and Azerbaijan suc-
cessfully developed. We pay very big importance to our relations and today`s talk
once again show how important these relations are for both sides. I am very grate-
ful to Mr. President for his evaluation of economic development in our country. In
fact, during the last 5 years we had unprecedented economic growth. GDP grew 2.6
times, industry production 2.5 times, budget spending more than 10 times. And this
year despite of the fact that there was a recession and the oil price dropped substan-
tially several times, still we continue to grow. Our economy grew in the first quarter
of this year more than 4%, and the most important is that non-oil sector grew 14%.
This is clear indication that our policy of diversification of economic development,
investments and policy of economic reforms led to the fact that we are no longer
dependant on oil and gas, and oil and gas is not playing the decisive role in our
economy as it was before. We continue economic reforms. Last year the World
Bank announced Azerbaijan the top reformer in “Doing Business” report. Also po-
litical reforms are being conducted in Azerbaijan. Economic and political reforms
are being conducted in parallel. And relations with the European Union for us are
also important because we want to bring all the criteria of our life close to the cri-
teria of the European Union. These relations are very solid, they have a very good
future, and they are based on mutual interest. Energy was one of the issues which
we seriously discussed with Mr. President, and I expressed once again my support
to the project which is being discussed in Europe. Azerbaijan is a country which
initiated the construction of the pipelines from the Caspian to the West. It is based
on our initiatives and performance that today we can talk about Nabucco, Turkey-
Greece-Italy, Trans Adriatic gas pipelines, because we did all the preliminary work
that was necessary to be done. And today having huge oil and gas reserves, modern
infrastructure, pipelines and strategic location, of course, Azerbaijan will continue
to play crucial role in the regional energy security and in the energy security of
Europe. Europe is a great partner of Azerbaijan, and I am sure that this visit and the
steps to be taken in the future will strengthen these relations.
I would like once again to thank Mr. President for the invitation, for very produc-
tive and sincere talk we had, which is of enormous importance for our future.