Verklaring door Raadsvoorzitter Van Rompuy na zijn gesprek met de president van Azerbeidzjan (en)

Statement by President Herman Van Rompuy i after his meeting with President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev

First, I would like to congratulate you on your success in the Eurovision song contest. All quarters of Europe will meet next year in Baku, bringing the limelight on Azerbaijan.

Although short, your trip is important and timely. It shows the importance you place on the EU i-Azerbaijan relationship.

You should also be assured that we are committed to strengthening relations with your country. We are therefore pleased that the negotiations on the association agreement are advancing.

Our commitment to our relationship with Azerbaijan and to our eastern partners is also reflected in our preparations and expectations for the Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw in September.

As we discussed today, the Warsaw Summit will be the occasion to renew the commitment of both the EU and the partners to the ambitious goals of the Partnership.

This will include the joint commitment to the values and principles that underpin the Eastern Partnership, in particular democratic principles and practices, the respect for human rights, good governance and the rule of law.

We hope the summit give impetus to the promotion of the participation of partners in selected EU programmes and agencies.

I also hope the Summit will be an opportunity to address ways to develop political co-operation and dialogue including also on joint efforts to enhance regional security and resolve conflicts, as well as relevant global and regional issues of common interest.

In this regard, and view of your trip to Kazan for the summit on Nagorno-Karabakh hosted by President Medvedev i, later on this week, I have underlined the strong EU support for a peaceful resolution of this long standing dispute in the EU‘s neighbourhood.

It is now high time to make additional efforts to finalise the agreement on the Basic Principles. This would allow to start negotiations on a peace agreement soon.

The EU continues to support the work of the OSCE Minsk Group for the peaceful resolution of the conflict on the basis of the principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity and self-determination of people.

Finally, another central element in the EU-Azerbaijan relations is energy. I am glad that President Aliyev could confirm today that Azerbaijan is a committed partner and will continue to provide the EU market with significant volumes of energy supplies in the future.

Mr President, thank you again for coming to Brussels. I am looking forward to seeing you soon again together with my EU-colleagues in Warsaw at the Eastern Partnership summit.