Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov is on an official visit to Croatia to discuss the prospects for the bilateral relations Between Azerbaijan and Croatia.

During his visit, the minister met Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

Mammadyarov congratulated the President on her appointment and conveyed greetings and sincere congratulations of President Ilham Aliyev.

Grabar-Kitarovic, for her part, asked to communicate her greetings and best wishes to the Head of State.

The sides praised development of relations between the two countries in the political, economic and energy fields.

The sides also praised signing the Zagreb Declaration on strategic partnership and friendly relations that has created a fruitful political condition to comprehensive development of both countries` bonds.

The Zagreb Declaration was inked by Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Ivo Josipović of Croatia in 2013.

They stressed the importance of holding the first meeting of the joint commission on economic cooperation to promote economic bonds between the two countries in the near future.

The Azerbaijani minister also met with Vesna Pusic, the Croatian foreign minister.

During the meeting they praised current development of relations between Azerbaijan and Croatia.

Pusic said the two countries are the strategic partners, highlighting successfully developing cooperation in the political, economic, energy fields.

The Croatian minister also touched up the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, noting that Croatia supports Azerbaijan`s position in the conflict and wants the peaceful settlement of the problem.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since then, a lengthy war in the early 1990s displaced over one million Azerbaijanis and led Armenian armed forces to occupy over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Mammadyarov, in his turn, said Azerbaijan appreciates Croatia’s principal and unchangeable stance in solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, borders` inviolability of the States.

They further discussed issues on the role of Azerbaijan in the energy security of Europe, as well as transport of Azerbaijan`s energy resources to the region, cooperation within the international organizations.

Croatia recognized Azerbaijan's independence in 1991. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1995.

The relations between Azerbaijan and Croatia develop dynamically in various areas, especially in the political sphere. So far, the two sides have signed over 20 documents in various spheres.

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

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