Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Colombia is interested in expanding cooperation and implementing joint projects with Azerbaijan in various spheres like agriculture, energy, tourism, culture and others.

Head of the European Directorate at the Colombian Foreign Ministry Juan Guillermo Castro Benetti made this remark during the meeting with Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalfov in Baku.

He expressed his country’s interest in enhancing cooperation with Azerbaijan in a variety of areas.

The two sides further exchanged views on the development of relations between Azerbaijan and Colombia and cooperation prospects.

They noted the importance of developing a mechanism of political consultations and intensifying high level reciprocal visits between the two states. They also underlined the significance of cooperation within international organizations.

Khalafov pointed out “great” potential for developing cooperation between the two countries in energy, trade, agricultural, information technologies, humanitarian and cultural spheres.

The deputy minister also provided an insight into Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan. He stressed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict caused a serious threat to the region and impeded regional development.

He praised Colombia’s support of Azerbaijan’s “fair” position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Colombia became the second Latin American country after Mexico, whose parliament recognized the Khojaly tragedy as genocide.

In April 2012, the Colombian Senate has passed a decision on Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories and recognized the crimes committed by Armenians in Khojaly in 1992 during the Karabakh war as genocide. The decision was taken unanimously after 102 votes required for its adoption were successfully collected.

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

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