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President Ilham Aliyev: During its presidency of the European Union Greece has made a great contribution to the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union.
“We cooperate successfully within international organizations. In particular, our delegations to the Council of Europe have established a very active cooperation. Last month Azerbaijan took over chairmanship in the Council of Europe and will act in this capacity until the end of the year. During its presidency of the European Union Greece has made a great contribution to the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union. The relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan are at a very high level and have acquired a strategic character. The successful visit of European Commission President Barroso to Azerbaijan two days ago has reaffirmed the strategic nature of these relationships,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
“President Papoulias and I have also widely discussed regional security. The greatest threat to regional security is posed by the unresolved status of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. For more than 20 years Armenia has held 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory under occupation. A speedy settlement of the conflict would bring peace and cooperation to the region. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions in connection with the conflict. They demand an unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories. I do hope that a settlement of this conflict will be possible in the near future, which, as I said, will open up new opportunities for cooperation in the region.
An important part of our relationship is associated with energy security. Greek-Azerbaijani relations are of strategic importance here. The TAP project is not only a project of energy security. At the same time, it has raised the friendly ties between our two countries to an even higher level. The Shah Deniz, TANAP and TAP projects initiated by Azerbaijan are currently the largest infrastructure projects in Europe. As a result of these projects, Azerbaijan will export its natural gas to European markets for decades to come.”