Polish president, Azerbaijani counterpart discuss oil pipelines

PAP news agency
30 Mar 05

Warsaw

Poland is very interested in big projects concerning the transmission
of crude oil and gas from the Caspian Sea region to Europe which have
been presented by Azerbaijan to the EU, said President Aleksander
Kwasniewski on Wednesday [30 March] following talks with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev.

We discussed the possibility of including in the projects the
Odessa-Brody-Gdansk stretch [running through Ukraine to Poland],
Kwasniewski told a news conference.

President Aliyev, on a two-day official visit to Poland, said talks on
including Poland in the project were under way. He stressed that
Azerbaijan had always supported the extension of the
Odessa-Brody-Gdansk pipeline.

Kwasniewski added he had discussed the stepping up of the pipeline
construction with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and that in
his opinion Ukraine seemed to be interested in joining the project.

The Polish president said Poland supported Azerbaijan’s efforts to
establish closer cooperation with the EU, NATO and WTO and was ready
to share its experience in this field.

During the visit three agreements between both governments were
signed: on economic cooperation, on cooperation and mutual assistance
in customs issues, and on cooperation in defence. According to
Kwasniewski, also agreements on cooperation between SMEs and labour
markets, as well as letters of intent on cooperation in agriculture
and education will be signed.

According to the Polish president a peaceful solution to the
Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh was feasible but,
as the president stressed, the decision hinged on Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

Asked about Poland’s official stand in case of an Azerbaijani
democratic revolution gathering momentum, Kwasniewski said Poland
persistently supported democracy, civil society, democratic
institutions and the freedom of the mass media.

After the meeting of the two presidents, Defence Minister Jerzy
Szmajdzinski conveyed to his Azerbaijani counterpart Safar Abiyev
archival materials confirming the presence of Azerbaijani officers in
the Polish armed forces in the period between the two world wars.