Croatia and Azerbaijan intensify bilateral cooperation

Zagreb, April 22 (AzerTAc). Bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Croatia is intensifying, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Croatia Kamil Khasiyev said in an interview to AzerTAc. - Mr. ambassador, how do you assess bilateral political relations between our countries and what are the priorities in this direction? - There are high-level dynamic relations between Azerbaijan and Croatia today. During the past few years there were a number of reciprocal visits between the countries including the high-level ones. 19 documents spanning various fields have been signed, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was on an official visit to Croatia in March 2013. Croatian President Ivo Josipovic paid an official visit to Azerbaijan in 2012. Croatia reiterated its stance supporting territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and this was reflected in the Zagreb Declaration on strategic partnership and friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Croatia signed during President Ilham Aliyev`s visit to Croatia. Croatia has a principled stand towards territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and supports resolution of the conflict in a peaceful manner, on the basis of international law, in particular, sovereignty, territorial integrity of states. Friendship groups operate in parliaments of both countries. This cooperation exists also at OSCE, NATO and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, multilateral interparliamentary forums. The effective political dialogue was established between the two countries on various levels in particular at the level of foreign ministries. Speaker of the Croatian parliament Josip Leko paid an official visit to Azerbaijan in June 2013 and invited his Azerbaijani counterpart Ogtay Asadov to make his visit to his country too. By and large, the bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Croatia has been intensifying in recent years. The number of reciprocal visits during a year is a striking example of this. On April 15, consular-related consultations were held between Azerbaijan and Croatia on visa regime facilitation, migration regulation. I am hopeful that consultations will contribute to solving the above-mentioned issues. - How do you evaluate economic, trade and humanitarian relations between our countries? - Azerbaijan, which builds bilateral and multilateral relationships with European countries as noted in the National Security Conception of the Republic of Azerbaijan, is interested in deepening integration into the European and economic and legal space, implementation of joint region economic projects and considered political, economic cooperation as an important element. I would like to underline the importance of the Zagreb declaration on strategic partnership and friendly relations between the Republics of Azerbaijan and Croatia. This document envisages development of relationships between Azerbaijan and Croatia in all spheres including economic, defense, security, trade, investments, tourism, transport, science, technology, environment, information, humanitarian, cultural, youth and sport ones. Croatia is one of the important countries of the South-Eastern Europe in terms of its geostrategic position, diversified economy, natural resources, rich culture. Croatia and Azerbaijan share the same position on all the issues. There are good political relationships. It is necessary to create the strong economic partnership with countries. Some important steps have been taken in this direction. During the past few years, the trade turnover between our two countries dramatically increased thanks to the oil and oil products. However, Azerbaijan considers important development of cooperation and diversification of economy in not only the oil and gas sector but also other fields, which are of reciprocal interest. There are great opportunities for the increase of the bilateral trade turnover both in Azerbaijan and Croatia and diversification of the list of goods. There are good cooperative relations in the energy sector between Azerbaijan and Croatia. Croatia is keen on South corridor project and Azerbaijan’s delivery of gas to Europe in the context of the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline. Croatia is one of the countries to sign the memorandum on cooperation, mutual understanding and support for construction of the TAP and IAP (Ionian-Adriatic) gas pipelines. Humanitarian relations between the two countries are successfully developing. Azerbaijan’s Youth and Sport Ministry and Croatia’s Social Policy and Youth Ministry signed a memorandum on cooperation. The cultural cooperation program for 2014-2016 between Culture and Tourism Ministry of Azerbaijan and Croatia’s Culture Ministry was prepared to be signed later this year. Winners of the essay competition “What I know about Azerbaijan” held on June 25-July 5, 2013 visited Azerbaijan. Croatian youth will be participating in the UNIVISION musical contest to be held this year in our country. In addition, former President of Croatia Stepan Mesic-led Azerbaijan-Croatia Friendship Society was founded. It held some events to popularize our country and develop cultural ties between the two countries. For example, the Ali and Nino book translated with the support of the Azerbaijan-Croatia Friendship Society was presented. - The number of countries where Azerbaijani companies invested has increased in recent years. Is Croatia interested in Azerbaijani investments? - Croatia, which has been fighting against the consequences of the global economic crisis, intensively uses its membership at the EU for attracting investments. To revive the economy, Croatia plays great attention to not only EU and neighboring countries but also Azerbaijan, as one of the potential economic partners. There is a number of attracting investment projects in Croatia. I can mention tourism, oil production and other lucrative potential projects. We are sure that Azerbaijani businessmen will widely use the economic potential of Croatia.