ESTONIAN PRESIDENT GIVES INTERVIEW TO AZERBAIJAN PUBLIC TV
Baku, January 13 (AZERTAC). Visiting Azerbaijan, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves gave an interview to the local Public Television.
The interview covered various aspects of the Azerbaijan-Estonia relations, including the cooperation between the two countries within the European Neighborhood policy, as well as the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, energy security issues and the role of Azerbaijani community in Estonia in strengthening bilateral ties.
President Ilves described the current state of the Azerbaijan-Estonia relationship as very good. “Our relations are very good but we need more,” he said.
The Estonian leader especially stressed that the “European foreign policy must pay more attention to neighbors.” “We think that Azerbaijan is a key country in this regard, especially when we look at the energy situation in Europe today,” he said adding “it`s very shortsighted not to pay more attention to Azerbaijan.”
On the role of Azerbaijan in ensuring energy security of Europe, the President said: “I think the recent crisis that we`ve seen shows that dependence on only one source of energy, one source of natural gas, is harmful to Europe.” In this connection, he stressed the need for more serious approach to the Nabucco project.
President Ilves praised the contribution of the Azerbaijani Diaspora in Estonia to strengthening bilateral relations. “We are very proud of Azeri Estonians, who are Estonian citizens and who are taking an active part in political life of the country,” he said.
Asked about Estonia`s position towards Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Toomas Hendrik Ilves said his country has always respected the principle of territorial integrity of states. “Estonia has always demanded the respect for territorial integrity of countries. War is never a way to accomplish anything, he said adding: Nagorno-Karabakh is “not only your issue but it`s the problem of many countries, and the principle that we must stand by is territorial integrity,” he said.
######
Other news in this section
