Germany gets active in settlement of Karabakh conflict

Messenger.com.ge, Georgia
Sept 3 2004

According to the Azeri newspaper 525 Gazeta.Baku, President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev went on an official visit to Germany and met
with German President Horst Kohler. President Kohler thinks that
official Berlin supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and
that this position is unwavering. Kohler highly assessed the first
official visit of Aliev to Germany, stressed that the visit has
positively influenced cooperation of the two countries, including
further development of the economic ties.

For his part, Aliev talked about the necessity to start attempts
to strengthen bilateral relations. The issues regarding cooperation
between Azerbaijan and Germany within the framework of international
organizations, integration of Azerbaijan into the European structures,
strengthening of activities of German companies in Azerbaijan and
others were discussed at the meeting.

Attention to the issue of the Armenian-Azeri conflict was
significant. Kohler said that Germany always supported the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and that the country always will follow
this standpoint. According to him, Germany as a member of OSCE will
strengthen its attempt to settle this problem. Aliev also highly
assessed Germany’s standpoint and thanked President Kohler. Aliev
also invited Kohler for an official visit to his country and the
invitation was accepted.

Aliev also met with Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. According to the
results of the negotiations, two documents were signed: an agreement
regarding the avoidance of dual taxation and the purchase of 4 Airbus
A319’s by Azerbaijan. The chancellor also confirmed the standpoint
of Germany regarding the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

As Schroder said, Germany and European Union are interested in
cooperation with Azerbaijan and Germany supports the integration of
Azerbaijan into European structures in every possible way. Aliev also
noted that Azerbaijan considers the development of relations with
Germany as an important element in cooperation with the European
Union. As for the Karabakh conflict, Aliev stated that after the
withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from the Azeri territory,
a peaceful agreement can be signed and relations can be normalized
between two countries as well.