Bulgarian deputy premier, Azeri defence minister discuss relations, Iraq

BGNES web site
26 Oct 04

Sofia, 26 October: On 26 October Deputy Prime Minister Plamen Panayotov
received Col-Gen Safar Abiyev, defence minister of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, who is visiting Bulgaria in connection with the signing
of a cooperation plan for 2005 between the two defence ministries.

At the meeting, the sides stressed the positive development of
bilateral relations and pointed out that the cooperation between the
two defence ministry testifies to this, the Bulgarian deputy prime
minister’s office has announced. At the request of the Azerbaijani
side, Panayotov thoroughly described Bulgaria’s preparations for
joining NATO and the actual act of joining, as well as the talks on
Bulgaria’s forthcoming EU membership. On the basis of the Bulgarian
experience, the deputy prime minister pointed out that the goals of
integration into the EU and NATO could only be successfully implemented
if they were accompanied by policies consistent with the values and
criteria of democracy, law and order, observance of human rights,
creating possibilities for free entrepreneurship and a market economy
and maintaining peaceful relations with the neighbours.

Panayotov especially stressed the necessity of not only accepting the
EU and NATO standards, but also strictly applying them. He expressed
Bulgaria’s readiness to share its experience in this realm with
Azerbaijan.

A significant part of the talks was devoted to expanding economic
cooperation and trade between the two countries. The dynamic growth
of the two countries’ economies could serve as a foundation for this
cooperation. It was agreed to intensify business contacts between
the two countries with the goal of identifying the possibilities of
achieving a more adequate volume of bilateral trade.

The Azerbaijani side expressed support for Bulgaria’s striving
to implement the work on constructing a modern power generation
infrastructure, including implementing projects on transporting
oil and natural gas from the Caucasus region to Europe through
Bulgaria’s territory and utilizing the EU’s Transport Corridor
Europe-Caucasus-Asia and Inogate programmes.

The situation in Iraq, where both countries have contingents within
the stabilization force framework, was reviewed. At the request of
the Azerbaijani side, opinions were exchanged on relations between
Azerbaijan and Armenia. It was pointed out that with the cooperation
of the Bulgarian chairmanship-in-office of the OSCE in 2004 efforts
have been made within the framework of the negations to find a peaceful
solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Bulgarian side again confirmed support for the OSCE’s Minsk Group
efforts and its cochairmen in this context.