ArmInfo.On June 25, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and a European Union delegation that visited Azerbaijan mandated by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell.
At a meeting with European ministers, Ilham Aliyev highly assessed this visit, noting that this is a good indicator of cooperation, the involvement of the European Union and its members in regional issues.
He recalled that he signed and adopted documents and agreements on strategic partnership with 9 EU member states. "I think this is a very great achievement of our country, because we are talking about three quarters of the member states, and this demonstrates a broad framework of cooperation that encompasses many areas of mutual interest and significance. Three years ago, we initialed a document with the European Union on priorities of partnership, supporting the territorial integrity, sovereignty, inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, "Aliyev said, AzerTac reports.
According to the Azerbaijani leader, this was a very important step towards the negotiation of a new comprehensive agreement.
"As far as I understand, your visit to the region is dedicated to the current situation after the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In other words, the post-conflict situation is important, because I think the basic fundamental approaches to the post-conflict situation will be developed now and over the next year. Azerbaijan's position is very open and clear, "he said.
According to Aliyev's assurance, he recalled that Azerbaijan wants to move from a post-conflict state to peacekeeping development and cooperation in the South Caucasus, which he has repeatedly spoken about.
And already in the traditional form, he began to shift all the blame for the current situation onto Armenia, realizing that there was no Armenian representative at the meeting and there was no one to react to him.
"Unfortunately, we have not heard anything like this from the Armenian government so far. The Armenian government ignores our statements about the start of negotiations on a peace treaty. But whatever it is, the pre-election situation turned out to be not very favorable for such statements. Now, after the elections are over in Armenia, we hope that there will be a positive answer. Of course, I think that during your contacts in Armenia this issue will also be discussed, because if we do not have a peace agreement with Armenia, it means that will be no peace either. There will no peace not only between the two countries, but also in the South Caucasus. We need peace and sustainable development, predictability, zero risk of war, we do not need war. And we did not need war before. We are ready to turn this page, move forward and make our own contribution to regional stability, "the president stressed.
To note, on June 25-26 the "Troika" of ministers is touring the countries of the South Caucasus. The visit is mandated by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell.