AZERI AND LATVIAN PRESIDENTS SIGNED JOINT DECLARATION
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 4 2006
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev and the
President of the Republic of Latvia Ms. Vaira Vîíe-Freiberga signed
Joint Declaration on October 4 in Riga. Trend presents the text of
the Declaration:
The Parties noted their satisfaction with the fact that during the
official visits of the President of the Republic of Latvia Ms. Vaira
Vîíe-Freiberga to the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 2-4, 2005
and of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr Ilham Aliyev
to the Republic of Latvia on October 4-5, 2006, created broad legal
basis for development of relations between two countries and would
give a special impetus to the development of relations between two
friendly states on a new level. During the visit of the President of
the Republic of Latvia, Ms. Vaira Vîíe-Freiberga to the Republic of
Azerbaijan in 2005, agreements in such important fields as economic
cooperation, taxation, investment promotion and protection, as
well as customs cooperation were signed. During the visit of the
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Latvia,
agreements in fields as air services, communication, information and
communication technologies, education, finances, as well as health
and medical sciences were signed.
The Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and
the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Economic, Scientific,
Technical and Cultural Cooperation signed on October 3, 2005 provides
for establishing an Intergovernmental Commission. The Parties
emphasized the important task of the Intergovernmental Commission
in the mutual relations between the two countries, specifically in
promoting economic and trade cooperation, in enhancing cooperation
between the small and medium size enterprises.
The Parties stressed their determination to develop the relations
on the basis of the values such as the rule of law, democracy,
human rights, and market economy. In this regard, the Latvian
side welcomed the efforts of Azerbaijan aimed at strengthening the
ongoing democratisation, promoting the principles of civil society
and market economy.
The Parties emphasized the importance of development of political
dialogue at the high levels and expansion of cooperation between
bodies of legislative and executive power of the two states.
The Parties reaffirmed the importance of inter-parliamentary relations,
including the cooperation in the framework of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The Parties underlined the importance to increase the level of trade,
economic, investment and technical cooperation.
The Parties stressed the importance of taking additional measures for
the expansion of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere-culture,
education, health, mass media and other fields. They welcomed
creation and expansion of relations among the tourism, youth and
student organizations as well as trade unions and nongovernmental
organizations.
The Parties, recognizing the historic similarity in process of
achieving independence by two nations, emphasized the importance of
developing relations in the field of joint scientific and archive
researches. In this regard, they underlined the importance of
conducting researches devoted to the history of proclamation of
independence of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan on May 28,
1918 and that of the Republic of Latvia on November 18, 1918.
The Parties confirmed that they would strengthen bilateral military and
military-technical cooperation, which meets ensuring security interests
and does not contradict international obligations of both countries.
The Parties, fully supporting and guided by the principles of the UN
Charter and the OSCE basic documents, emphasized the importance of a
peaceful solution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
on the basis of the universally recognized principles and norms of
the international law, with particular regard to the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the States, and the inviolability of
internationally recognized borders.
Referring to the continuing efforts within the OSCE towards peaceful
resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as well
as the Minsk Group activity, the Parties reiterated the importance
of taking more substantial and decisive steps in this regard.
The Parties committed themselves to continue their efforts to
increase the effectiveness of mutual cooperation within the UN, OSCE
and others international organizations. Regarding the UN reform, the
Parties believe that attention should be focused on strengthening the
central role of the organisation in international matters, increasing
its effectiveness and use of potential in the face of new threats
and challenges to the existing order of the world. Reforms of the UN
administration must be based on the principle of unanimity and fully
reflect the common interests of the organisation’s member states.
Both Parties discussed the upcoming election of the UN
Secretary-General, and the Azerbaijani party welcomes and appreciates
the nomination of H.E. Vaira Vîíe-Freiberga, the President of the
Republic of Latvia, to the post of the Secretary General of the United
Nations, as the first ever woman candidate in the history of this
universal organization. The Azerbaijani party emphasized that the
personal commitment and the expertise of H.E. Vaira Vîíe-Freiberga
for UN reform process would contribute to the implementation of the
UN reforms.
The Parties expressed their support to close cooperation within the
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the NATO Partnership for Peace
Program and the presented by Azerbaijan Individual Partnership
Action Plan.
The Parties will conduct consultations and continue joint efforts
for extension of relationship of Azerbaijan with the European Union
and NATO. To this end, Latvia expressed its readiness to share with
Azerbaijan the experience gained by its state institutions in the
process of its integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.
Both Parties underlined with satisfaction the positive influence
of the European Neighborhood Policy for Azerbaijan’s approximation
to the European Union and emphasized that the European Neighborhood
Policy would contribute to the restoration of stability and security
in the Southern Caucasus. In this context, the Latvian part supported
the Action Plan for the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The Latvian part stressed the significance of economic reforms in the
Republic of Azerbaijan and expressed its support for the accession
process of Azerbaijan to the World Trade Organization.
The Parties underlined the increasing importance of the European
energy security and emphasized, in this regard, the growing role of
the Caspian Sea region energy resources in securing European energy
demands. It is necessary to strengthen the ties between the European
Union and the Caspian Sea region in terms of energy cooperation. In
this context, both Parties stressed the international importance
of opening and start-up of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export oil
pipeline as well as the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
gas pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway projects. The
Parties expressed interest in a closer co-operation in the development
of transport corridors using the transit potential of both countries.
The Parties noted the increasing influence of the Baltic Sea region
on the European and global levels. In this context, the Azerbaijani
part stated the importance of mutual cooperation in implementation of
various projects in the Baltic Sea region on the basis of reciprocal
benefit.
The Parties agreed on the importance of the dialogue between religions
and civilizations and expressed the need for the expansion of relations
and understanding between Christianity, Islam and other cultures and
civilizations in order to create good conditions for harmony of peace,
freedom, rights and justice.
This Joint Declaration has been signed in Riga, on October 4, 2006
in two original copies, each of them in Latvian, Azerbaijani and
English languages.
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