Azeri-Press news agency (APA), Azerbaijan
 Saturday


Ilham Aliyev: Partnership with EU is one of key priorities of
Azerbaijan's foreign policy


Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the European Union`s
Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels at the invitation of President
of the European Council Donald Tusk.

The head of state addressed the plenary session of the summit, APAreported.

The Azerbaijani president said that the partnership with the European
Union is one of the key priorities of Azerbaijan's foreign policy.

'This year in February, we started active negotiations on a new
agreement. I hope these negotiations will end soon. This agreement
will create opportunities for further cooperation between our
countries. The European Union is the major trade partner of
Azerbaijan. Fifty percent of the country's trade accounts for the
share of EU member countries. Since Azerbaijan gained its
independence, the investments of the European Union to the Azerbaijani
economy have exceeded $20 billion. This demonstrates the presence of a
good investment climate,' the president said.

The head of state noted that Azerbaijan continues its policy of
political and economic reforms.

'We attach great importance to the development of democracy,
protection of human rights and we are strictly committed to it. We
have reduced the unemployment rate to 5 percent. Foreign debt,
compared to gross domestic product, is low than 20 percent,' the
president added.

President Ilham Aliyev said that the main challenge that Azerbaijan
faces, is the continuation of the Armenian occupation of its
territories: 'Almost twenty percent of the internationally recognized
territory of Azerbaijan is under occupation by Armenia more than 20
years. As a result of the occupation, more than one million
Azerbaijani people have become refugees and internally displaced and
we have been exposed to ethnic cleansing policy. The UN Security
Council has adopted four resolutions which demand immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories,
which are not fulfilled by Armenia. Separatism, aggressive separatism
are intolerable in the 21st century. All forms of separatism must be
condemned and a single approach to all aspects of separatism should be
applied. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has the same value as
the territorial integrity of any other state and it must be restored.'

Referring to the energy policy, the president noted that Azerbaijan is
closely cooperating with the European institutions in this sphere.
'The Southern Gas Corridor, a large-scale energy project, is worth
over $40 billion and it will allow us to extract more natural gas and
transport it from Azerbaijan to European markets. The 3500-kilometer
gas pipeline will be a new route and will carry gas to the European
market from news sources. This is a policy of energy diversification
along with the energy security policy. Thus, Azerbaijan's gas fields
will be only new natural gas source of Europe and the pipeline will
significantly change the energy map of the European continent.
Azerbaijan's proven gas reserves are at the level of 2.6 trillion
cubic meters which will be enough to transport natural gas to Europe
in the coming decades,' said Ilham Aliyev.