Swiss ambassador to Azerbaijan: "Forced way of the Karabakh conflict resolution will not lead to protracted peace"

- What do you expect from the further development of Azerbaijani-Swiss relations following the first, I would say, historical visit of Swiss President to Azerbaijan?

- Yes, this was the first visit of the Swiss President to Azerbaijan and he laid foundation for the further, more active development of the bilateral relations. As you know, the Swiss embassy has recently opened in Baku and Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Bern a little bit earlier. This fact promotes development of our relations in various spheres, from communications to energy and culture. The list of spheres, in which mutual cooperation is mutually profitable, is and extremely wide.

Switzerland participates in the economic sector of Azerbaijan, there are opportunities for expanding cooperation in energy sector, Swiss companies are especially interests in purchasing of Azerbaijani gas.

- You have once said that Azerbaijan may use its economic potential for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

- For sure Azerbaijan can develop comprehensively by using its oil strategy, which may be attractive for all partners and in a wider sense used for the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
                                                                                        
- How will the world society, especially Switzerland, react in case Azerbaijan uses forced way of the conflict resolution?

- In this case I can only speak for my country. Switzerland has always spoken for the peaceful resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. My country considers that the forced resolution of any conflicts in the world, including Nagorno Karabakh, may never lead to conclusive peace. It is true that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which started over 15 years ago, has not been settled yet. The military phase of the conflict has evidenced that the peaceful resolution has no alternatives. This is the main principle of the external political course of Switzerland on such problems.

Moreover, we see that the potential of the problem resolution by way of talks has not been exhausted yet and there are chances for attaining positive result.

- Some experts state that without Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan could have been the second Switzerland in its region in the sense of economic and political stability. What would you say to it?

- I agree that Azerbaijan experiences fantastic economic growrth rates and has brilliant prospects for further development. But we can not judge whether Azerbaijan could have been the second Switzerland, though some common features are observed in this comparison. Anyway, Azerbaijan has strongest potential for strengthening of its economic development and these prospects could have been wider in case of the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem.

/Day.Az/