Azerbaijan major trade partner of Visegrad countries: FM
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijan, as a leading economy in the South Caucasus, is the biggest trade partner of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov made remarks at the Visegrad Group-Eastern Partnership meeting of foreign ministers in Budapest, Hungary, on April 29, AzerTag state news agency reported.
The Visegrad Group countries consist of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan's trade turnover with V4 countries totaled around a billion dollars in 2013, and this trend is on the rise.
Remarkably, both sides have managed to diversify their trade portfolio by going beyond the traditional energy sector and seizing opportunities that the non-oil sector provides, such as agriculture, construction, heavy industry and pharmaceuticals, Mammadyarov said.
He underscored that Azerbaijan also remains an attractive market for V4 countries in terms of the non-oil sector investment.
"In case of Azerbaijan, the success of our partnership with V4 is rooted in an excellent record of our bilateral cooperation. We regularly maintain high-level political dialogue on issues of common interest. Our countries also interact in the inter-parliamentary cooperation framework," Mammadyarov said.
He also added that Joint Intergovernmental Commissions with the majority of V4 countries provide a good platform for strengthening the economic dimension of this cooperation.
"That said, V4 countries are our important partners in the EU context as well. Recently, we marked the five-year anniversary of Eastern Partnership in Prague. V4 countries have been instrumental in designing, developing, and strengthening the mechanisms of this new engagement that encompass a broad range of political, security, and economic issues," Mammadyarov said.
Azerbaijan is included in the EU program on "Eastern Partnership" adopted at the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008.
The goal of the program is the rapprochement between the EU and Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, and Belarus. The program envisages a significant increase in political interaction, large integration of former Soviet republics into EU economy, increasing the volume of financial aid to them, and strengthening energy security.
"Azerbaijan has been consistent in stating that we are interested in building our relations with the EU based on common interests and mutually agreed priorities. The value of this partnership is predetermined by past and present successful engagements between my country and the European Union," Mammadyarov noted.
The EU and Azerbaijan have relations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999.
Since then, the PCA has provided the legal framework for EU-Azerbaijan bilateral relations in the areas of political dialogue, trade, investment, economic, legislative, and cultural cooperation.
Azerbaijan has pledged its support to ensuring European energy security by facilitating the realization of the strategic Southern Gas Corridor, Mammadyarov said.
"Following the adoption of the strategically important joint declaration on the Southern Gas Corridor between Azerbaijan and EU in 2011, we took a major step that testified to our dedication to enable the prompt development of the Corridor. As a strategic midstream component of the Southern Gas Corridor, the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project (TANAP) created regulatory and commercial predictability and ensured our partners that the Azerbaijani natural gas will reach Europe. Last summer, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) was chosen delivering Azerbaijan's gas to our European partners. Finally, the Shah-Deniz stage 2 Final Investment Decision was made last December. Thus, TANAP and TAP which will be commissioned in the coming 4-5 years will help meet the strategic energy demands of our partners in Southern Europe and envisage future volumes for export to Central Europe. Shah-Deniz stage-2 project will also boost interconnectivity in Europe's energy infrastructure," Mammadyarov said.
Azerbaijan agreed to sell over 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from the second phase of its Shah Deniz development to nine companies in the EU in September 2013.
The contracts were signed for 25 years between SOCAR and the European utilities, including Axpo Trading AG, Bulgargaz EAD, Depa, Gas Natural Fenosa, Hera Trading Srl, Shell Energy Europe, Enel SpA, E.ON SE, and GDF Suez SA.
Mammadyarov also noted that Azerbaijan welcomes strengthening the legal basis of the country's cooperation with EU. "The recently signed Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements and Mobility Partnership will open up opportunities for closer interaction among our citizens."
"Comprehensive Institution Building (CIB) is another joint initiative which we have developed within Eastern Partnership. We strive to attract more added value of the EU resources to realize institutional reform plans through CIB. As of today, 3 groups of beneficiary institutions are fully functional, amongst which the capacity building of human resources in civil service has been chosen as a priority," Mammadyarov said.
He noted that the V4 countries have also been partnering with Azerbaijan in a number of EU twining projects. "We look forward to continued cooperation in several projects in Azerbaijan foreseeing the implementation of best practices in the public sector institutions," Mammadyarov added.
Mammadyarov touched upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in his speech.
"I want to stress a point on the position of the EU regarding unresolved protracted conflicts in the Eastern Partnership area. Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict particularly remains an issue of great concern. The just and soonest resolution of this conflict on the basis of the UNSC resolutions and, therefore, the restoration of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, and the return of internally displaced persons to the place of their origin will strengthen peace and stability and create the conditions for full-fledged regional cooperation," Mammadyarov stressed.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against 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.
Mammadyarov also said Azerbaijan has consistently reiterated its capacity-driven aspiration to develop a more goal-oriented and diverse agenda rather than confining itself to limited areas of cooperation inspired by unilateral priorities.
"We believe that the Association framework currently offered by the EU does not reflect the needs of both Azerbaijan and the EU. We are ready to work closely with the EU on developing a bilateral framework of strategic nature," Mammadyarov concluded.