'Greece-Azerbaijan relationship is continuing to develop '

“Greece-Azerbaijan relationship is continuing to develop and financial crisis didn’t have negative effect on our cooperation”, Greek Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ioannis Metaxas told APA.

He highly appreciated the energy cooperation between the countries. “BOTAS Company of Greece is importing Shahdeniz 1 gas. SOCAR and BOTAS reached principal agreement on their commitments. It is high time to replace this principal agreement with legal one”.

Underlining the importance of bilateral relations for both sides, the ambassador said that the achievements couldn’t be overshadowed by any factor. “This year we celebrate 20th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations. These relations were established on April 4, 1992. We believe that ITGI is a well-considered project for transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Greece and Italy from one direction, and via IGB to Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Hungary from other direction. Unfortunately this project decided to be stopped. Greece and Italy sees ITGI project as a reliable alternative for Azerbaijan, SOCAR”.

Ioannis Metaxas said the Azerbaijan-Greece intergovernmental commission would hold its 4th meeting in Athens, but the meeting has not been scheduled yet. Greece is interested in attracting Azerbaijani investment to its economy, said the ambassador and added that four joint business forums have been held recently. “The last forum was held in Baku last year and the presidents of both countries attended this forum. Greece has done much work to involve Azerbaijani investment in its economy in recent years. I see Azerbaijani businessmen as the persons open to the world that could appreciate the interesting investment opportunities in the Greek economy. I hope we will see the results of mutual decisions by the business partners soon”.


/APA/