DW staff / DPA (sms) | | © Deutsche Welle.
German Foreign Minister to Visit Former Soviet Republics
Europe wants better energy ties with Azerbaijan

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier began a series of visits to
the southern Caucasus states of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia on
Sunday to discuss energy issues with the oil-rich former Soviet
republics.

Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency, was instrumental in
bringing Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia into the EU’s "good neighbor"
program, which is designed to promote supportive relationships.

Steinmeier will be examining efforts in the three countries to cement
law and justice, democracy and market economy principles with a view
to promoting stability and economic development.

The region is important as a source of energy and a transit point for
supplies of oil to Europe.

Last year a 1,776-kilometer (1,104-mile) oil pipeline was opened from
the Azerbaijan capital of Baku via Tbilisi in Georgia to the Turkish
port of Ceyhan, providing an important link from the Caspian Sea to
the Mediterranean.

European Union officials vowed last year to forge stronger links with
suppliers of vital oil and gas in a bid to ease the bloc’s current
dependence on energy-rich but increasingly assertive Russia.

During his trip, Steinmeier will confer with his counterparts in the
three countries, as well as Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev,
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margarjan.

Aliyev said during a visit to Germany this week that his oil-rich
nation needed another five years to raise human-rights standards to
match levels required under good-neighbor agreements with European
states.

The EU is backing westward gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea fields
via Ukraine and Turkey. A line, code-named Nabucco, is to be
commissioned by 2011.

It would pick up gas from Turkish pipelines and shift it to western
Europe’s grid via Bulgaria and Romania.

DW staff / DPA (sms)