Azerbaijani officers to participate in working meeting of nato publicdiplomac y

Bogdan Aurescu presented NATO’s priorities for the summit in September, insisting on the need to pay a greater deal of attention to developing the partnerships of the Alliance, also in view of the recent regional circumstances. He showed that the current crisis in the region would prompt NATO to rethink the substance of its partnerships and would impact on the agenda of the summit in Britain. At the same time, he presented Romania’s profile in the Alliance 10 years after its accession and this country’s commitment to the open-door policy, the continued involvement in Afghanistan after 2014, as well as in the development of NATO’s role in the field of missile defence, of cybersecurity and energy security, in which Azerbaijan, an important partner of NATO, could become involved.

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  R E G I O N
  

The talks pointed to the very good level of the Romanian-Azerbaijani political dialogue, which lends the bilateral relationship its current strategic partnership character. The two officials assessed the stage reached in implementing the Joint Plan of Action concerning the Strategic Partnership, signed in April 2011, with a focus on the economic and energy areas.

As far as cooperation in the economic field is concerned, the two officials said it was necessary to increase the volume of bilateral commercial exchanges, and to capitalize on the upward tendency recorded of late. In this connection, Bogdan Aurescu brought up the need to make the best of the Intergovernmental Commission on economic-commercial and technical-scientific collaboration, which is instrumental in achieving these goals, and said it was important to convene the fifth session of the Commission as soon as possible. The Romanian State Secretary expressed hope that Azeri investment in Romania, the SOCAR investment included, would grow, a goal the Azerbaijani side shared.

Bogdan Aurescu opined that this goal could be facilitated also by the implementation of the planned freight corridor between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, which would capitalize on the direct maritime transit in the Black Sea, Deputy Minister Khalafov expressing the Azeri interest in that project.

In point of energy cooperation, the two officials exchanged views on the stage in implementing the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania-Hungary liquefied gas interconnection (AGRI), a project based on the shortest route between the Caspian and the Black Sea. Bogdan Aurescu underscored the necessity of accelerating the AGRI project, both by rapidly completing the feasibility study and by promoting the project in the EU, where it already featured, following Romania’s efforts, on the List of EU Projects of Common Interest, which means EU funds may be available to fund them. The Azerbaijani side confirmed the importance of the AGRI project for the bilateral relations and for the region alike.

At the end of the talks, Bogdan Aurescu and the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov signed the Plan on Consultations between the two foreign ministries.

During the consultations with the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, they discussed notably the regional developments, with a focus on the need to settle the protracted conflicts, as well as Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the EU and NATO. Moreover, they agreed on implementing a mechanism for more frequent consultations, both between the two officials and between the relevant department of the two foreign ministries.

As far as cooperation with NATO is concerned, the two interlocutors highlighted the strategic character of the partnership relation the Alliance is developing with Azerbaijan, evoking Azerbaijan’s contribution, at several levels, in the field of security, also through the support for the ISAF mission. Bogdan Aurescu evoked the role of Romania’s Embassy in Baku as NATO Contact Point for three consecutive terms, during 2009 -2014, which attests to the very good level of the relations between Romania and Azerbaijan. Moreover, he provided assurances that Romania would further support the development of NATO-Azerbaijan partnership relations.

The consultations provided the opportunity for an in-depth exchange of views on the security situation in the region. In connection with the recent developments in Ukraine, particularly those in Crimea, Bogdan Aurescu highlighted the worrisome prospect of a new protracted conflict in the region, likely to lead to an arc of such conflicts, besides those in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Transnistria.

Bogdan Aurescu said that the worrisome developments in Ukraine represented a very serious, alarming signal showing that new partition lines can become a reality in Europe, and annul over two decades of dialogue and cooperation aimed at reconciliation on the European continent. He pointed out the illegal and illegitimate character of the so-called referendum planned for 16 March 2014, with a view to determining the future status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, an integral part of sovereign and independent Ukraine.

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  N A T O H Q
  

I condemn President Putin’s announcement of new laws incorporating Crimea into the Russian Federation.