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BAKU-BRUSSELS (Azerbaijan-European Union relations)
Meeting of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev with the member of the European
Commission for Enlargement Gunter Verhogen
May 18, 2004
On 18 May, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev came to the residence of the
European Commission in Brussels.
Member of the European Commission for enlargement Gunter Verhogen greeted
the Head of Azerbaijan State. President Ilham Aliyev and Mr. Gunter Verhogen
had their photos taken in memory before the flags of Azerbaijan Republic and the
European Commission.
Then, during face-to-face talk, Azerbaijan-European Commission cooperation
and its prospects were discussed. The European Commission is going to involve
Azerbaijan to its new program “European neighborhood policy”, which would be
useful for Azerbaijani economy and other fields, Mr. Gunter Verhogen stressed.
Also, peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh con-
flict, situation in the South Caucasus and other issues of mutual interest were dis-
cussed.
Mr. Gunter Verhogen stressed that he feels honor and is proud of meeting the
head of Azerbaijan State, adding that once he closely watched contributions of the
late President Heydar Aliyev to economic development of Azerbaijan.
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BAKU-BRUSSELS (Azerbaijan-European Union relations)
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev receives EU delegation
July 7, 2004
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the delegation
of the European Union led by Commissioner for Enlargement Janez Potocnik on 7
July.
The Head of State pointed out that Azerbaijan is a part of the European Union’s
new neighborhood policy and expressed his confidence in further success of bi-
lateral cooperation in the framework of this program. Stressing the Azerbaijan’s
integration into the European structures is one of the country’s priorities, President
Ilham Aliyev reaffirmed that this policy would be continued in future. He stated that
cooperation with the European Union’s member states would be continued not only
in energy sector, but also in other spheres as well. The President also described his
productive talks on energy cooperation with President of Greece, who had lately
visited Baku, and with President of Turkey during the recent NATO Summit in
Istanbul.
Azerbaijan is a rapidly developing country, which has achieved considerable
progress in many fields of industry, President Ilham Aliyev said.
The Azerbaijani leader highly appreciated the activity of the European Union’s
Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heike Talvitie, and wished Mr. Janez
Potocnik every success during his first visit to Azerbaijan.
Commissioner Janez Potocnik let the President know that he had had very pro-
ductive meetings during the visit, and noted that the European Union considers
Azerbaijan as a county of great potential.
Touching upon the processes taking place after the EU’s enlargement, he advised
to hold consultations on bringing Turkey closer to the European family. Accord-
ing to him, the enlargement of the European Union requires facing the reality, and
building policy towards neighbors on the new basis.
Mr. Potocnik noted as well that in September, the European Union is expected
to consider a package of documents on cooperation in the framework of the new
Neighborhood Program, as well as to discuss the issues related to fight against inter-
national terrorism, poverty reduction and a number of peculiarities of the organiza-
tion’s policy towards neighbors.
Present at the meeting were Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov and Head of
the Azerbaijan
Representation to the European Union, Ambassador Arif Mammadov.
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BAKU-BRUSSELS (Azerbaijan-European Union relations)
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
receives EC delegation headed by Romano Prodi
September 17, 2004
On September 17, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received
the delegation led by the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi at
the Presidential Palace.
Greeting the guest, head of Azerbaijan state recalled his meeting with Mr. Ro-
mano Prodi in Belgium telling it was very useful. The Azerbaijan-European Union
relations develop successfully, President of Azerbaijan underlined. “Our country at-
taches great importance to development of these relations”, he said. President Ilham
Aliyev state that the relations with the European Union are one of the priorities of
our state policy and we reach new accomplishments in this field, he added.
Noting that the “New Neighborhood Policy” is very important, President Ilham
Aliyev underlined that this policy is one of the priorities in the relations of Azer-
baijan and European Union. Head of Azerbaijan stated that appointment of the Eu-
ropean Union representative for the South Caucasus serves development of these
relations.
Stating that cooperation in political, economic, cultural and other fields between
Azerbaijan and European Union develops successfully, president Ilham Aliyev ex-
pressed his confidence for strengthening of these ties. Azerbaijan is an integral part
of Europe and integration to European structures is priority of our foreign policy,
head of Azerbaijan state emphasized.
Noting that there is successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and European
Union in the field of economy, in particular, in the field of energy, President Ilham
Aliyev said there is a high level dialogue in the political field.
Head of Azerbaijani state expressed his confidence that the visit of Mr. Romano
Prodi to Azerbaijan would greatly promote the development and strengthening of
the bilateral relations.
Expressing gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for warm reception, Mr. Prodi
said that he was pleased with the visit. Noting that cooperation in the political, eco-
nomic and other fields is integral part of the new neighborhood policy he empha-
sized that realization of this policy is of great significance in terms of strengthening
cooperation and solving problems. “There are important tasks before the European
Union for implementation of this policy, and the EU holds fair position in regard
with the policy of neighborhood”, he said.
Mr. Romano Prodi said that quick resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Na-
gorno-Karabakh conflict is necessary for successful realization of the New Neigh-