Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

President Ilham Aliyev paid a two-day working visit to Riga on July 16-17, at the invitation of the Latvian president to discuss bilateral relations and development of cooperation in transport, construction supervision and education fields.

The visit of the Azerbaijani President to Latvia is of a landmark character and will give a serious impetus to develop and strengthen the economic relations of the countries given the successful business forum held within the framework of the visit.

Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis said the visit of the Azerbaijani president to Riga will considerably promote ties and strengthen friendship between the two countries.

Now, Latvia and Azerbaijan will be considered as strategic partners, since the two countries signed a Joint Declaration on strategic partnership, covering many areas, including economic and trade cooperation. So far, Azerbaijan has a format of cooperation of strategic partnership with 11 EU member countries.

President Aliyev, speaking at the joint business forum, invited Latvian companies to come to work in Azerbaijan as contractors, adding that several Latvian companies implemented different successful projects in Azerbaijan.

Talking about investment climate in Azerbaijan, the head of state assessed it as very positive and called the national economy competitive. During the last twenty years more than $200 billion have been invested in Azerbaijan, he stressed.

Azerbaijan’s economic agenda is now aimed at diversification of economy in order to reduce the dependence on energy factor, said the President, underlining that the biggest part of GDP is produced in non-energy sector.

“We managed to increase this year our non-energy export more than 27 percent, and reduce import by 50 percent,” he said.

President Aliyev said that “with Latvia we have such a strong format of cooperation that it will be natural to engage in a broader partnership.”

Talking about tourism benefits of the two countries, President Aliyev said there is huge opportunity to invest and for tourist companies to consider our destinations as very attractive and for this the two sides need to know each other better.

“We also discussed today a very important issue for business, for tourists, for people-to-people contacts. It is a year-round direct flight connection between Riga and Baku. Now we have seasonal flight, and we want to have it permanent. That, of course, will create additional opportunities. If representatives of business communities fly often to visit each other that will make this route also commercially very attractive. So, it will not only open by the decision of the leadership, but it will be also commercially justified,” he said.

President Aliyev's meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis also focused on cooperation in transport, with the Latvian side calling for regular air traffic between Latvia and Azerbaijan. The Latvian premier expressed his hope that Latvia's national airline airBaltic to open a direct route between Riga and Baku and to advance cooperation with Azerbaijan Airlines.

Transport sphere was another topic of discussions between the two leaders, who believe both countries possess encouraging opportunities for cooperation in the field.

“Currently, Azerbaijan is actively engaged in the creation of the North-South transport corridor and has allocated major financial resources for this purpose. Latvia as one of the countries along this corridor, of course, works on a par with us. We have decided that relevant bodies should already begin consultations among themselves at the next stage,” President Aliyev emphasized.

Vejonis also stressed Latvia's intention to step up transport cooperation with Azerbaijan, particularly on such mega projects as North-South Transport Corridor.

Another important project, which Azerbaijan implements now in the reciprocal interest with the EU is a project of energy diversification -- Southern Gas Corridor.

“Of course, energy issues are in the foreground in the relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan as a reliable partner plays and will continue to play a role in ensuring the energy security of Europe. Azerbaijani gas is the only new source, a new route for gas supplies to Europe. This is our advantage,” said Ilham Aliyev.

The Latvian president praised Azerbaijan’s contribution to the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project and to delivery of natural gas to European consumers.

“I think we need to work more closely in order to make greater strides in this regard,” the Latvian president added.

Vejonis voiced support to strengthening relations between the EU and Azerbaijan, where the Eastern Partnership framework plays an important role.

"Azerbaijan is a significant EU partner in energy and transport, therefore we commend Azerbaijan’s role in the southern gas corridor project and contribution to diversification in energy supplies to the EU," said the Latvian president, LETA reported.

Vejonis also said that the upcoming Eastern Partnership summit in November will be an important chance to find further cooperation directions between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the agenda

President Aliyev raised the Karabakh issue during his visit to Latvia, hailing that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is supported by the whole world.

Highlighting the newly-adopted Declaration between the two countries, the head of state said that the document reflects very important issues related to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, emphasizing that this issue should be resolved on the basis of relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, and the inviolability of its borders.

In turn, President Vejonis said Latvia voiced support to Azerbaijan’s territorial sovereignty and integrity, underscoring that peaceful means should be used to solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

“The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can only be solved through peace and negotiations, and this should be based on the norms and principles of international law,” said the Latvian president.

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

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