On April 7, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili made statements to the press in Gabala.
>< reports that first the President of Azerbaijan made a statement.
President Ilham Aliyev’s statement
– Dear Mr. Prime Minister.
Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen.
First of all, Mr. Prime Minister, I sincerely welcome you to Azerbaijan, welcome to Azerbaijan.
Our meetings are regular. Six months ago, we were your guests in Georgia, and today you are in Azerbaijan. When I was in Georgia, I visited Mtskheta district. Today you are in Gabala district. I think this is a very good tradition. Because in this way, we get to know the interesting historical places of both Georgia and Azerbaijan, and this strengthens our friendship even more.
Georgia and Azerbaijan have been in close contact with each other for many years, we are friends, allies, our peoples are connected by brotherly ties. All the discussed issues have one goal: to deepen bilateral cooperation and take all necessary steps for the future of our peoples.
Many important issues were discussed today, and we will build our future activities on the basis of the agreements reached.
Of course, Georgia and Azerbaijan are the countries that play an important role for Europe’s energy security today, and this role is increasing. Of course, friendly relations between us and cooperation in this field are a great contribution to Europe’s energy security. The export of Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe is increasing every year. As a whole, this year, Azerbaijan will export 24.5 billion cubic meters of gas to world markets, and this number is increasing every year.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the European Union last year, we must ensure the transportation of 20 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe alone by 2027, and I am sure that we will reach this figure.
Considering the current geopolitical situation, of course, energy security issues come to the fore for all countries. The Azerbaijani company SOCAR has been successfully operating in Georgia for many years. According to the information provided to me yesterday, SOCAR has built 11,000 kilometers of gas pipelines in Georgia, thus supplying more than 830,000 subscribers with natural gas.
In the future, we will actively work on new directions of cooperation in the field of energy, rather, this work has already begun. At the end of last year, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania signed an important Agreement. In February of this year, the meeting of the first steering committee of the green energy project was held in Baku. This is a large-scale project. Of course, the successful implementation of this project will be possible due to the joint activities of all four countries, and at the same time, as you know, the European Union attaches great importance to this project. It is no coincidence that the President of the European Commission also participated in the signing ceremony.
Of course, an important part of our bilateral relations is related to transport. Here, too, all work is going on successfully and according to plan. Georgia and Azerbaijan are working successfully in the implementation of the Middle Corridor. Of course, in the next stage, additional steps will be taken to increase the volume of cargo transportation.
I have visited the countries of Central Asia many times last year and this year, and I will do so again this year. Thus, there are great opportunities for transporting new cargoes along the Middle Corridor. All administrative issues should be resolved here, the tariff policy should be resolved from a single perspective, and at the same time, joint efforts should be made to attract and transport cargo. Of course, this issue has been widely discussed today and will continue to be discussed.
These were the main areas of activity. But, of course, Georgian-Azerbaijani relations are not limited to the areas I have listed. Our relations cover many areas – defense industry, education, culture, tourism, technologies, agriculture. Of course, necessary steps are being taken to increase trade turnover. I am sure that today’s visit of Mr. Prime Minister will give a new impetus to our relations.
Dear Prime Minister, welcome again.
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Then the Prime Minister of Georgia made a statement.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s statement
– Mr. President, my dear friend, I greet you.
Dear Mr. Ilham, I am honored to be in this charming region of your country today. I would like to thank my friend President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev for the hospitality shown to us.
You rightly mentioned that you visited Georgia a few months ago. It is already a new tradition that we visit not only the capitals, but also the regions. It is a great initiative and the fact that we are here today is proof of that.
I would like to emphasize once again that these close friendship and fraternal relations with Azerbaijan and the people of Azerbaijan are very important. Our friendship has a very ancient history, and Azerbaijan is not only our neighbor and friend, but our important strategic partner. For many years, we have implemented historical projects in various fields, and those projects united our peoples and countries even more closely. We are interdependent in a good way, and I am sure we will continue to be so for many years to come. We have mentioned these important projects many times.
It is known that Georgia is also a reliable transit country and transit partner. As mentioned by Mr. President, we continue this activity and do not stop. As you know, we will lay an electric cable under the Black Sea, we are developing the issue of the Middle Corridor. We have a huge potential to transport green energy to Europe, which has great prospects. This is a future. Both countries will invest more in this area. We discussed that too.
In addition, of course, we discussed the situation in the region. The current situation in Ukraine was discussed, where there are risks and challenges. Challenges that did not exist after World War II. Our main task is to ensure peace and stability. Because without these, there can be no talk of development and prosperity.
We must create new jobs and ensure the prosperity of our people. We have the same vision in this field. We wish for closer relations between our countries.
I would also like to add that we are working together in a coordinated manner on the Middle Corridor project. Our goal in the near future is to remove all obstacles and jointly develop the infrastructure – our seaports and railways. As you know, we are working on the construction of a new port in Georgia. In a year, we will implement the railway expansion project, the operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be expanded, and we will be able to attract more cargoes through the Middle Corridor.
I would like to reiterate that our main goal is to ensure peace and stability in the region. We need to implement more projects in the region and we will carry out our work in a wonderful atmosphere of brotherhood.
Mr. President, once again I express my immense gratitude to you. This year in your country you are celebrating the 100th anniversary of your genius father Heydar Aliyev. You are our friend and Heydar Aliyev was also a great friend of Georgia. I wish you and the people of Azerbaijan peace and stability. Thank you for your attention.
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Today in Gabala, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili made statements to the press.
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On April 7, in Gabala, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, who came to our country on a business visit, made a joint statement to the press.
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