Baku-APA. After the ceremony of signing documents, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias made statements for the press.
Ilham Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan and Greece successfully cooperate within international organizations. “In particular, our delegation to the Council of Europe established a very active cooperation. Last month Azerbaijan accepted the chairmanship of the Council of Europe and will continue it until the end of the year. And Greece during the presidency of the European Union has made a great contribution to the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union. Relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan are at a very high level, acquired a strategic character. Successful visit of European Commission President Barroso to Azerbaijan two days ago reaffirmed the strategic nature of these relationships.”
President Ilham Aliyev noted that regional security was widely discussed within a visit. “The greatest threat to regional security is the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. For more than twenty years Armenia holds 20 percent of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan under the occupation. Speedy settlement of the conflict will bring peace and cooperation in the region. In connection with the conflict the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions, which provide unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories. I hope that in the near future settlement of this conflict will be possible, and thus, as I said, in the region there will be new opportunities for cooperation.”
Ilham Aliyev noted that an important part of relations between Azerbaijan and Greece is related to energy security. “Greek-Azerbaijani relations are of strategic importance. TAP project is not only a project of energy security, at the same time it will raise the friendly relations between two countries on higher level. Ongoing projects initiated by Azerbaijan "Shah Deniz”, TANAP and TAP are currently the largest infrastructure projects in Europe. As a result of these projects Azerbaijan for decades after that will export its natural gas to the European market.”