Azernews.Az

2012 was a good year for the relations between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Azerbaijan, Arjen Peter Uijterlinde, said in an interview with Trend news agency.

"We look back on the year with many significant visits of ministers from Azerbaijan to the Netherlands and visits of Dutch ministers to Azerbaijan. We had deputy prime minister visiting Azerbaijan in September and this visit produced a very good dialogue between our two countries and good atmosphere for cooperation," Uijterlinde said.

He said the visit of Dutch Deputy Prime Minister led to an agreement on bilateral investments that the Nederlands hopes can be signed in the new future. "So I think these are very positive developments. We have also seen the signing of a number of concrete projects of Dutch companies in Azerbaijan assisting the process of diversification of economy in the spheres of agriculture, water management and medicine. So, I am very encouraged by that and proud as an ambassador," Uijterlinde said.

According to him, the spheres of agriculture, logistics, water management and energy can be priorities for cooperation between the two countries. "I am speaking about energy in a broad sense, not only about oil and gas, but also the whole issues of energy efficiency and alternative energy. These are issues that we have an experience in that we can share with Azerbaijan. I think these are areas where we would like to see cooperation intensified... but we can further deepen and expand the cooperation," Uijterlinde underlined.

Regarding the Netherlands' position on Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the ambassador said that his country's position on this issue is in line with the EU stance. "We very much regret that the conflict still goes on and this protracted conflict is putting such a burden on the development in the region. We hope very much that the OSCE Minsk Group, as a facilitator, will be able to give a new impetus to the negotiation process. We think a negotiated solution is acceptable for both sides," the ambassador said.

Uijterlinde also spoke on Dutch-Azerbaijani cooperation within international organizations, saying that the two countries work together within the international organizations. He stated that the Netherlands recognizes the fact that Azerbaijan, as a leader in the region and as a member of the UN Security Council, has an important role to play.

"We really want to keep the dialogue with Azerbaijan on these issues. Also because we understand that Azerbaijan has an instrumental role in the operations in Afghanistan where in the NATO and ISAF context we work together with Azerbaijan," Uijterlinde said.