Azerbaijan is a major factor in the region’s stability, said Ambassador Kamil Khasiyev, representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

He made the statement in his speech on the negotiations and the current situation in respect of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the second session of the 15th meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in Baku on May 8, APA reports.

Khasiyev said Azerbaijan has been able to create not only bilateral but also trilateral cooperation formats.

"If we look at the format of Azerbaijan-Turkey-Georgia trilateral cooperation today, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line projects have been implemented. At present, the TANAP project is being implemented. The Azerbaijani-Russian-Iranian trilateral cooperation format plays a role in the formation of the North-South transport corridor. We are one of the most active participants in regional projects. I have been the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Croatia. European Union countries also have the opportunity to join the projects that Azerbaijan is a member of. One such project is TAP. Greece, Italy and Albania are among the participants in this project. By regional cooperation, we refer to other initiatives of cooperation with other regions,” he added.  

Vassilis Maragos, Head of Unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations said that Azerbaijan is a member of the Eastern Partnership program.

“This is also a form of regional cooperation. The EU supports the Southern Gas Corridor project. Our trade relations with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are expanding within the association agreement. We hope that a new agreement with Azerbaijan will play its role in increasing trade relations. On the other hand, representation of the EU in Azerbaijan renders assistance to the country through various programs. We expect for investment programs to be implemented in transport area at the end of this year. 200 million euros have been allocated for the Eastern Partnership countries on exchange of youth at the academic level. We will cooperate with Azerbaijan in this field as well. The exchange program will last till 2020,” he noted.

Maragos emphasized that the EU does not import any goods or services from Nagorno-Karabakh.

 “We are talking about the cases of abuse related to origin countries. The European Commission has sent relevant notifications to countries. From this point of view, I do not think that we demonstrate double standards on this issue. The EU does not export any goods or services from Nagorno-Karabakh,” he added.