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Latvia wills to keep on fruitful political, economic dialogue

13 February 2017 14:07 (UTC+04:00)
Latvia wills to keep on fruitful political, economic dialogue

By Amina Nazarli

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics has visited Baku to continue his country’s fruitful political and economic dialogue with Azerbaijan.

The minister, who has already been received by the head of the state, told Trend that this trip, to some extent, is the preparation for upcoming visit of the Latvian president to Baku next month to participate in the Humanitarian Forum.

“We have already discussed issues of the bilateral relations and praised excellent political relations with President Ilham Aliyev. We are also waiting for President Aliyev’s visit to Latvia. The visit aims to outline a program of further cooperation,” he said.

During the meeting, President Aliyev and the FM exchanged views over the development of Azerbaijan-Latvia relations in economic, transport, agricultural, tourism, cultural and other fields.

President Aliyev stressed the importance of mutual exchange of views against a background of changing situation in the world and in the region. The head of state underlined the importance of increasing bilateral trade and mutual investment and expanding cooperation through attracting business circles.

Touching upon the EU-Azerbaijani cooperation, Rinkevics said Latvia supports signing of the new agreement, which should lead to the improvement of Azerbaijani goods’ access to the EU markets.

“This document will serve not only to strengthening political cooperation between the parties, but also give impetus to strengthening of economic relations, particularly with regard to energy cooperation. The future agreement will also contribute to the improvement of trade between Azerbaijan and the EU, particularly with Latvia,” the minister said.

The agreement will follow the principles endorsed in the 2015 review of the European Neighborhood Policy and offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The new agreement envisages the compliance of Azerbaijan’s legislation and procedures with the EU’s most important international trade norms and standards.

Rinkevics went on to say that for objective reasons, the two countries recently experienced decline in economic relations, adding that it is needed to intensify work in this direction in the framework of the intergovernmental commission and business communities.

The Latvian minister emphasized that so many Azerbaijani products cannot enter the EU market because of tariffs, duties and quotas.

"Latvia could work more with Azerbaijan on joint economic projects, if not local taxes. If there was an agreement that at least partially solve these problems, it would have contributed to the development of trade between our countries. Latvia may offer its services in the wood industry and agriculture. We are able to offer our dairy products. In turn, Latvia is interested in Azerbaijani wines, pomegranate juice, vegetables and fruits,” he explained.

Moreover, Latvia will work on the possibility of the launch of direct flights from Baku to Riga, according to the minister, which will contribute to the development of tourism between the two countries.

“I welcome the introduction of "ASAN Visa" system in Azerbaijan. The EU also tries to simplify the visa system for the citizens of Azerbaijan,” he said, adding that more flexible visa issuance has already applied.

Touching upon cooperation in the field of energy, Rinkevics said that Latvia is interested in energy projects of Azerbaijan.

“We are interested in the diversification of oil and gas supplies. We are currently working on the liberalization of the gas market. This is an opportunity to develop relations with Azerbaijan and the Central Asian countries, as well as Norway, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” he noted.

Azerbaijan has initiated variety of significant energy projects of regional importance. Azerbaijan is committed to further development of energy cooperation with the EU by realization of Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a unique project which will bring Caspian gas to Europe.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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