Azerbaijani FM addresses Salzburg Trilogue Conference

Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has made remarks at Salzburg Trilogue Conference, which is being hosted by the Austrian Foreign Ministry and the Bertelsmann Foundation.

The FM highlighted the country's economic potential and energy policy.

Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan could play a key role in ensuring energy security of the European Union states.

He touched upon what the Azerbaijani government had been doing to eliminate poverty.

The Azeri minister emphasized the importance of ensuring sustainable development in the Black Sea region. He also stressed the importance of solving frozen conflicts, adding they pose a big threat to the region's development.

The Salzburg Trilogue is an annual international dialogue forum for representatives from the political, business and cultural sectors, focusing on ways to confront the socio-political challenges being faced by Europe and the international community.

One of the central themes of this year's conference is “Building Blocks for Ethical Market Economies in the 21st century – Perspectives on qualitative growth from Europe, the Black Sea Region and Beyond”.

The 2010 Salzburg Trilogue will explore a new economic order that is no longer based on long-term growth, but on increasing economic and social participation and reducing the environmental footprint. This requires recognizing the ethical limits to growth, redefining ideas of progress and prosperity and, according to many experts, placing a greater focus on non-material sources of wellbeing.

The Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov, who is in Salzburg to attend the conference, is expected to address the event.

As part of his visit Mammadyarov had bilateral meetings with his Ukrainian, Georgian and Austrian counterparts, as well as Austria's former federal chancellor Wolfgang Schussel and CEO of OMV, Austria's oil and gas giant, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer.


/AzerTAc/