Baku, August 29, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has met his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Janelidze as part of his official visit to Tbilisi.

The Ministers noted the strategic partnership ties Azerbaijan and Georgia based on the principles of friendship, mutual respect and good neighborly relations are in a state of constant development, as well as historical bonds friendship shared by the peoples of Azerbaijan and Georgia plays an indispensable role in the enhancement of mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries.

At the meeting the sides expressed their satisfaction with the development of political dialogue and mutual understanding between our countries. The mutual high-level visits and regular political consultations give further impetus to the promotion of the ties to the qualitatively new levels.

The parties emphasized that Azerbaijan and Georgia support each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty in the framework of their internationally recognized borders according to the norms and principles of the international law.

Minister Mammadyarov briefed his Georgian counterpart about the negotiation process towards the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. “Azerbaijan stands for the substantive negotiations on the resolution of this conflict. The current status-quo is unacceptable and unsustainable, as it was repeatedly stated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs at the heads of state level. In order to achieve progress in the settlement of the conflict, the occupying forces have to be withdrawn from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan in an unconditional and full manner and the fact of military occupation must be ceased in accordance with the resolutions of UN Security Council. The resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict would guarantee durable peace and security in the region.”

During the meeting it was mentioned that the cooperation between the two countries in the fields of energy and transport provided opportunities for the implementation of large-scale projects of mutual benefit. Building upon the successful experience of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum oil and gas pipelines the two countries are taking active measures towards the implementation of Southern Gas Corridor which plays an important role in European energy security. The ministers exchanged views to continue their steadfast efforts to fulfill the soonest completion Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. The sided stated that the trilateral partnership mechanism forged between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is a platform for implementation of important large scale projects. They underlined the importance to continue joint presentations at the international platforms on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project.

At the meeting the development of economic-trade relations and intensification of the work of Inter-Governmental Joint Commission was also discussed. They noted the close cooperation in the spheres of defense, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, protection of critical infrastructure between the relevant structures of two countries.

The ministers noted that the parliamentary relations are important component of the wide encompassing cooperation. In the regard, the relationship between the parliaments of the two countries, mutual visits at the level of Speakers of Parliament and activities of inter-parliamentary Working Groups was mentioned. They stated that the legal base of the cooperation is comprehensive. Around 110 different documents have been signed between the two countries. For expansion of bilateral legal-treaty framework 15 documents are under consideration.

The ministers highlighted the importance of continuing cooperation and mutual support in the framework of international and regional organizations, including the United Nations and its specialized agencies, OSCE, Council of Europe, BSEC, GUAM and others. The positions of the two countries in relation to the issues of the international agenda are similar.

At the meeting the sides reviewed the issues such as advancing the cooperation in the areas of education, culture, youth, health, environment, tourism and sports, holding mutual cultural days and developing joint tourist routes, as well. They also touched upon the issues of mutual visits and joint programs of state news agencies and media representatives of the two countries.