(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 18. Lithuania and
Azerbaijan have been strategic partners for many years, President
of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said making a press statement together with President of the
Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, Trend reports.
'
The Declaration on Strategic Partnership signed between us
really reflects the essence of our cooperation. Today, Mr.
President's visit is further evidence of the strategic nature of
our cooperation.
We have discussed a number of issues. Of course, we are pleased
to emphasize the strong political ties between our countries, the
political dialogue that helps us to resolve various issues on the
bilateral agenda. Two years ago, we had the opportunity to talk to
Mr. President via video conference, and very constructive and
productive discussions took place. Now we have the opportunity to
talk about many important issues on the bilateral agenda in a live
format.
As you know, we will address representatives of the business
communities of our countries later today. I am aware that there is
a great mutual interest in working together. Today, we discussed
various aspects of cooperation in economic, trade, transport,
agriculture, education, energy, sports and other fields, both
bilaterally and in an expanded format.
Of course, we have also talked about the post-conflict situation
in the South Caucasus. I reiterated Azerbaijan's position that we
want to see the South Caucasus as a region of peace, cooperation
and interaction. I think that after the second Karabakh war, there
is an opportunity to create this format of cooperation. We have
also exchanged views about that with our Georgian colleagues which
also very positively consider this option but unfortunately Armenia
is not willing so far to give a start, initial start to a
trilateral format of interaction in the South Caucasus. I think
that these opportunities should not be missed, because now is the
time for the South Caucasus to demonstrate its commitment to peace,
security and stability. As for the post-conflict situation, we have
some optimism, which is based on the fact that Armenia has
officially accepted the five fundamental principles put forward by
Azerbaijan in connection with the peace agreement. As a matter of
fact, as soon as the second Karabakh war ended, Azerbaijan started
to openly come out in favor of the signing of a peace agreement and
the establishment of a joint commission on the delimitation of
borders. This was not welcomed by Armenia. Then we clarified our
position, these five well-known principles that are fundamental
principles of international law, are in accordance with the UN
Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and good international practices.
We do hope that Armenia remains committed to its initial position,
which includes the adoption of these principles, and this serves as
a basis for the signing of a peace agreement.
At the same time, we called on Armenia to embark on the
delimitation of borders. Because our state border with Armenia,
including several districts of Azerbaijan which make up 20 percent
of the territory, had been under occupation for about 30 years.
Therefore, the need for delimitation of borders is obvious. At a
meeting initiated by the President of the European Council, Mr.
Charles Michel, in Brussels on 6 April, it was agreed that both
sides would establish a working group by the end of April and start
their work.
Azerbaijan set up its working group on time and was ready to
send out a delegation. This was agreed with the Armenian side. By
the way, it was the Armenian Foreign Ministry that proposed to hold
the first meeting on the border issue. Azerbaijan accepted the
offer and we were ready to send out a delegation. However, on the
last day, on 29 April, Armenia canceled the agreed meeting. This is
very disappointing. Even more disappointing was Armenia's refusal
to hold a different meeting on the border issue on 7-11 May, based
on Armenia's initial proposal. So we are waiting for new dates from
Armenia to start work. Because such an irresponsible position, of
course, is worrying.
Azerbaijan has always remained committed to its obligations. If
we promised, in the presence of the President of the European
Council, that we were ready to meet by the end of April, we were
committed to our word. However, we must see the same level of
responsibility from the side of Armenia. In other words, even
though we have certain optimism, such maneuvers and fairly strange
steps of the Armenian government actually undermine certain
confidence.
As for the second Karabakh war, I would like to note that
Azerbaijan has fully exercised the right given to us by the UN
Charter, the right to self-defense. We had remained committed to
negotiations for about 30 years, but they yielded zero results. For
a long time, I personally always called for the international
community to impose sanctions on Armenia. If sanctions, serious
sanctions had been imposed, there would have probably been no war.
Unfortunately, Armenia took advantage of a very special attitude
towards itself, and no sanctions were imposed on it even though it
had flagrantly violated international law and occupied the
territory of another country.
Azerbaijan had to restore its territorial integrity by military
and political means. We had to implement UN Security Council
resolutions calling for an immediate withdrawal of Armenian troops.
Finally, Azerbaijan's territorial integrity was restored on the
battlefield and at the negotiating table.
We are facing the issue of reconstruction and revitalization of
the liberated territories. Because everything there is destroyed
and razed to the ground. International experts call Aghdam, one of
the liberated cities, the Hiroshima of the Caucasus. However, as
was the case in Hiroshima, the destruction here was not caused by
an atomic bomb, but by barbarians and vandals during the
occupation. I want to say again now that we are committed to peace
and want to achieve it as soon as possible.
Mr. President and I have also extensively discussed the
EU-Azerbaijan cooperation, which is developing very successfully.
We have also discussed the prospects for concluding negotiations on
a new agreement, energy, transport security and trade relations.
The European Union is our main trading partner. Given the fact that
we have started exporting natural gas to Europe and the fact that
oil and gas prices are rising, our turnover with the European Union
has been certainly growing this year. We are grateful to Lithuania
for supporting the nearing of positions between Azerbaijan and the
European Union. Azerbaijan has already signed statements on
strategic partnership with nine EU members. This is one third of
the member states. This shows that the European Union is as
interested in cooperation as we are. Once again, Mr. President,
thank you for being with us. I look forward to continuing our
dialogue and achieving good results. I am sure that this will be
the case,' the head of state said.
Tags:
- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
- Lithuania
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