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Press Conference of the President of the Republic of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the European
Commission José Manuel Barroso after signing the documents
13 January, 2011
President Ilham Aliyev and Jose Manuel Barroso made statements.
Statement by Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
Dear Mr. President,
Dear guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to welcome once again President of European
Commission, Mr. Barroso, and express my gratitude for receiving our invita-
tion and visiting us in the beginning of 2011. We pay very big importance to this
visit. We consider this visit as a very important sign of strong partnership relations
between European institutions and Azerbaijan. These relations have good history.
From the very beginning of our independence, we always felt support from the Eu-
ropean Union and we feel this support now.
The visit of President of the European Commission is also a reflection of today’s
level of partnership, and it is aimed at the future development of our relations. We
highly value these relations. We are working and cooperating for many years in
various formats. Now, the Eastern Partnership program, which Azerbaijan is a part
of, creates new opportunities for our cooperation. We have bWay agenda of bilat-
eral relations. These relations cover many areas.
Today, during our friendly talks we discussed almost every aspect of our bilater-
al relations and cooperation. We discussed issues related to economic development,
economic cooperation, political reforms of Azerbaijan, the process of democratiza-
tion, regional situation, security, energy diversification, issues related to resolution
of Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We see the mutual desire and
wish to continue these relations and build a strong partnership for many years and
decades ahead.
Today, among the major topics of our talk, of course, there were issues related to
energy cooperation. We just signed a Joint Declaration on the South Corridor. It is
a very important and substantial document, which covers all the aspects of energy
cooperation between European institutions and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is a reliable partner. Azerbaijan is a country with a long history of
petroleum operations. The first oil in the world was produced in Azerbaijan. The
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first oil from offshore fields in the world was also produced in Azerbaijan. After in-
dependence, when we started to conduct our energy policy, from mid 1990s until to-
day, Azerbaijan’s policy in this respect was very straightforward, open and sincere.
We managed to attract billions of dollars of foreign investments to create a good
investment climate in Azerbaijan. And today we have a diversified supply. We have
seven pipelines for our oil and gas reserves, which transport our natural resources
to different directions. We received a lot of financial resources as a result of our en-
ergy policy. Today we are in the new stage of our energy development and relations
with European institutions are very important for us. Issues of energy security and
diversification of energy supplies are equally important for consumers, producers
and transit countries. Combination of interests and combination of efforts, and to a
certain degree, coordination and synchronization of efforts, I think will be the major
prerequisite for successful implementation of our plans. From the very beginning
Azerbaijan supported the Southern energy corridor. Actually, the project was ini-
tiated by Azerbaijan, particularly Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
oil and gas pipelines were the first important initiatives, which already created the
corridor. Afterwards, we started to work on transportation corridor. East-West trans-
portation corridor is also one of our priorities, and we are working closely and very
seriously in that direction. I think the Joint Declaration, which was signed today,
will have a good future. I am sure that in the coming months we will see many more
important developments in that respect, and energy partnership between European
institutions, European countries and Azerbaijan will successfully continue.
Today, we also discussed the situation with respect to political and economic
reforms in Azerbaijan. We always discuss these issues in a very friendly, open and
sincere manner – the way how it should be between friends. We consider ourselves
as partners and friends. We also discussed the issue of Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nago-
rno-Karabakh conflict. The fact is that for so many years Azerbaijani territories are
under Armenian occupation. Of course, it creates a lot of concerns in Azerbaijan. It
is a potential threat to regional security. We are very grateful to international institu-
tions, particularly to the European Parliament, which adopted resolution last year
with respect to Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is totally in
line with previously adopted resolutions by other international organizations, like
the United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe and others. The soonest resolution of
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will not only allow our refugees
and IDPs to return to their homes, and to restore our territorial integrity, which is
recognized by the whole world, but also will bring stability and cooperation to the
region.
Again, I’d like to mention that our bilateral agenda is very bWay. I am very glad
to host Mr. President in Azerbaijan. I am very glad that the year 2011 starts here