Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has joint lunch with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso - UPDATE - PHOTOS

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have had a joint lunch in Brussels.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have made press statements in Brussels.

The event also featured a question-and-answer session with the Azerbaijani leader and the President of the European Commission.
 
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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels.

They praised the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Commission.

They said there was good potential for expanding the bilateral cooperation in the economic and energy sectors.

The Azerbaijani leader and the President of the European Commission also discussed prospects for developing the relations between the country and the organization.

/AzerTAc/

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21.06.2013
17:40
The cooperation in energy sphere is one of the most important parts of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday at the joint press conference in Brussels, with the president of European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, the EU official website reported.

"I am very glad that after we, with president Barroso, signed a declaration of stategic cooperation in energy sphere in Baku in the beginning of 2011, we started to see practical results. That declaration played a key role in implementation of the Southern Gas corridor project. I'd like to express my personal gratitude to president Barrosso and his team for active involvement and coordination in this process," Ilham Aliyev noted.

He went on to say that this project will create even stronger ties between Europe and Azerbaijan.

"It is a win-win situation: Azerbaijan will find a predictable, regulated market in Europe, and Europe will get an alternative source of Caspian gas from Azerbaijan," Ilham Aliyev said. "Hopefully the volume of Azerbaijani gas that is to be transported to Europe, will not be limited by the Shah Deniz 2 project, because we have more than 2 trillion cm of proven gas reserves."

Azerbaijani President further spoke of the Southern Gas Corridor project, noting that this project is of energy security, and it will change the energy map of Europe and also create additional opportunities for Azerbaijan and other regional countries, to get more benefits from economic cooperation.

"I think the issues that we've identified, broadly show how substantive our agenda is - regional cooperation, security, political reforms, democratic processes, energy cooperation. All of these elements create very good grounds to elevate our relations to a higher level. Azerbaijan is interested in that, and we want to be as close as possible to Europe, and we're glad that we see the same approach from the European side," Ilham Aliyev said.

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15:30
The closer we are to Europe, the more opportunities we have for democratic development, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the press conference on the outcome of the meeting with the president of European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, the official website of the European Commission reported.

President Ilham Aliyev reminded of the visit of Herman Van Rompuy's visit to Azerbaijan, which was very important for the development of relations.

"This was the first visit of European Council's president to Azerbaijan, and the discussions we held in Baku, and earlier here in Brussels, are very important for the future development of our relations," he said. "There is an unanimous approach to our relationship. Azerbaijan wants to be as close to Europe as possible, and Azerbaijan is the active member of the Eastern Partnership Program."

The President of Azerbaijan noted that the closer Azerbaijan is to Europe, the more opportunities the country has for democratic development.

"We are greateful to European institutions for cooperation in this area. I think the cooperation in the areas of democratic development, human rights, helps Azerbaijan to implement political reforms in accordance with high international standards. These issues will be addressed today, and we will continue cooperation in this area," Ilham Aliyev said.

He went on to note that at the meeting, the sides also discussed such wide range of issues as regional security, stability and of course conflict resolutions.

"We also highly value the statements of the Minsk group co-chairs' presidents. We are grateful to them that they keep the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the center of agenda, and use such an important forum as G8," he said.

The President noted that Azerbaijan fully supports the comments related to implementation of all the necessary steps to find the soonest solution to the conflict.

"The reference to the Helsinki final act is of extreme importance, and it clearly defines the principle which should be the basis of settlement. Self-determination of nations should not contradict countries' territorial integrity," Ilham Aliyev said.

"In case with Armenia, it has already determined its future, they have Armenian state. Self-determination of Armenian nation on the territory of Azerbaijan is not acceptable."

He underscored that Azerbaijan is interested in the soonest resolution based on norms and principles of international law, and implementation of four UN resolutions, demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian troops from internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

/Trend/

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09:15
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev arrived in the Kingdom of Belgium for a working visit on June 20.

At Brussels International Airport, President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva were welcomed by high-ranking Belgian officials.

/AzerTAc/





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09:15