Azernews.Az

BAKU – Lithuania binds hopes with Azerbaijan in resolving its gas supply issues, chairperson of the Lithuanian parliament Irena Degutienes has said.

Degutienes said her country’s challenges were due to high gas prices in the market.

"Considering that Azerbaijan has already helped Georgia in this respect, we hope that it will cooperate with us as well. The issue was discussed during my visit," Degutienes told a news conference at the end of her visit to Baku on Thursday.

Resource-rich Azerbaijan is considering a number of options to sell its gas. In particular, discussions are focusing on transportation of gas through the planned pipelines included in the Southern Corridor - Nabucco, Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline (ITGI), Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and White Stream. Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is also looking into the possibility of supplying Azerbaijani liquefied gas through Georgia and the Black Sea to Romania under the AGRI project and deliveries of compressed gas to Bulgaria.

During Degutienes’ talks in Baku, the parties also discussed transporting Caspian oil to Lithuania through Ukraine and Poland, and opening a SOCAR representation in Lithuania. Degutienes raised related issues during her meeting with President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday.

Degutienes said one of the key issues for Lithuania was transport cooperation. The speaker said it would be expedient to link the Viking railway to Azerbaijan.

"From Ukraine it is possible to extend a section to Azerbaijan and link Viking with the TRACECA project," she said, referring to the transport corridor linking Central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe.

As for other transport projects, Degutienes said Lithuania was keen on direct flights between Vilnius and Baku, which would promote the development of tourism.

Degutienes said she had also discussed easing visa regulations for Azerbaijani citizens.

Karabakh conflictDegutienes affirmed Lithuania's position that it supports non-use of force and a peaceful settlement to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. This stance is reflected in a draft resolution which the Lithuanian Seim will discuss in spring, she said.

The draft was signed by 50 lawmakers during the winter session of Lithuania's parliament, but full discussion in the 140-seat legislature has been delayed until the spring because of the parliamentary recess.

The resolution calls for greater European Union involvement in seeking a solution of the status of the Armenia-occupied Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan complying with international law, Degutienes said in an interview ahead of her visit.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, defying international law. The separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh declared so-called independence in 1991, which has not been recognized by the world community.

The status of Nagorno Karabakh has been a stumbling block in OSCE-brokered peace talks. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the region’s status be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, while Armenia insists that self-determination is the core principle for a settlement of the dispute. The mediators are seeking a solution leaning simultaneously on both principles.