Azerbaijan, Baku /corr Trend A. Gasimova, A.Badalova/ Trend's interview of the President of Lithuania, Mr. Valdas Adamkus on the threshold of Azerbaijani President's official visit to Vilnius on 13 and 14 September.
Question: What is your appraisal regarding the current level of relations between Azerbaijan and Lithuania? What are the major priorities in the bilateral relations between Lithuania and Azerbaijan?
Answer: Indeed, we may note with satisfaction a very active and successful development of relations between Lithuania and Azerbaijan in the recent years. Historical ties between our two nations have existed over centuries. We have strong social and cultural links and the Lithuanian and Azeri nations have always shared a good-fellowship feeling, all of which creates excellent pre-conditions for the development of bilateral relations. We strongly support Azerbaijan's European orientation and the institutionalization of Azerbaijan's relations with the EU and NATO through the ENP Action Plan and NATO I-PAP. Lithuania aims to actively contribute to such cooperation with European and Euro-Atlantic structures by sharing its reform and integration experience.
This year our two countries have consolidated their diplomatic representation: Lithuania has opened its embassy in Baku and appointed its ambassador to your country. The ambassador of Azerbaijan to Lithuania has also presented her credentials.
Question: What urgent issues will be considered during the Azerbaijani President's upcoming visit to Lithuania?
Answer: I still remember the very warm and friendly atmosphere of my visit to Azerbaijan last June when we established an open and constructive dialogue with the president of your country. It will be a great pleasure and honor to meet Mr. Aliev in Vilnius this September. I am sure that this historical visit - as it is the first visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Lithuania - will serve as yet another opportunity for discussing the concrete elements of our bilateral cooperation, which has already gained rapid acceleration.
I hope that during Mr. Aliev's visit to Lithuania we will reflect on all major issues of common interest, including bilateral and regional cooperation, and we will find ways to coordinate our efforts and activities in particular fields, such as energy security and EU and NATO integration. Azerbaijan's role as energy supplier to Europe is growing and we hope to advance the idea of broader regional co-operation in the field of energy.
A new impetus for economic cooperation between our two countries could also be an important result of this visit since a business forum is planned in addition to official meetings. Business people from both sides have expressed huge interest to participate in this forum.
Question: What role could Azerbaijan take in the expansion of an oil transport corridor from the Caspian to the Baltic Sea? Is Lithuania prepared to provide the Caspian littoral countries with the necessary conditions for oil transport to the Baltic Sea?
Answer: The European Union is interested in buying natural gas and oil directly from energy producers in the Caspian region. We know that all major oil and gas pipelines from this region traverse Russia's territory. We believe that ensuring free transit would be a very positive step made by Russia. It would also be an expression of fair and sincere partnership. At the same time we need to develop new energy-supply infrastructure projects which would allow direct imports of oil and gas extracted in the Caspian region. In this perspective, the Trans-Caspian energy projects aimed at gas and oil transportation would be of immense value. They would strengthen European energy security and boost the international geo-energy status of the Caspian Sea region.
After the Krakow Summit, an intergovernmental working group was established to include representatives of Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan for the implementation of the Odessa-Brody-Plock-Gdansk project. A feasibility study to analyze technical and economic options for extending the Odessa-Brody pipeline to the Polish seaport of Gdansk should be completed by the end of this year. We will seek to develop this project into a project of European interest and to implement it as soon as possible.
Question: In what spheres of the Azerbaijan economy would Lithuania like to take an active part and what role could the Azerbaijani companies play in conducting business in your country?
Answer: Business people are showing an increasing interest in Azerbaijan and other Caucasian countries. The Caucasus is a region of rapidly growing strategically important economies with an improving business and investment environment and rapidly developing infrastructure.
Lithuanian businesses are actively seeking investment opportunities abroad. As regards Azerbaijan, Lithuanian business people might be interested in investing in the industrial sector (light and food industries), retail chains, real estate, tourism, and financial services.
The rapidly growing economies of Azerbaijan and Lithuania offer many new business opportunities. There is a lot of space for the expansion of Lithuanian exports of chemical products, food stuffs, machinery, and equipment to Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijani business people could bring more fruits, vegetables, nuts and cotton to Lithuania.
Business missions and the participation of business people in specialized exhibitions would further contribute to the development of economic contacts. We would like to invite representatives from Azerbaijan to participate in specialized exhibitions of clothing and textile, furniture, machinery and technologies, tourism and food that are held in Lithuania on a regular basis.
The business people of both countries could also exchange their knowledge of and experience in gaining access to neighboring markets; for example, Lithuanians could assist their fellow colleagues from Azerbaijan seeking to establish links with other Baltic States, while the Azerbaijani business community could help those Lithuanians who are interested in Central Asian and Middle East markets.
Question: Vilnius will host energetic forum in autumn with the participation of high ranking guests. What are the prospects for the outcome of this event?
Answer: Cooperation in the energy field has become an inseparable part of the European and international political agenda. The international community and our European partners are facing new challenges and opportunities in shaping the global and European energy landscape of the 21st century. Today we have to find out for ourselves how the growing energy demand will match the depleting traditional energy resources in Europe and how we are going to deal with the rapid climate change, sky rocketing energy prices and lack of supply options.
I am convinced that the best way to address these issues and cope with the existing and forthcoming challenges is international cooperation and engagement based on the principles of mutual confidence and transparency. It is clear that global problems need global solutions.
The conference will address the issues related to global energy security challenges as well as the future guidelines for the EU external energy policy. We have the ambition to search for new ways of mutually beneficial cooperation among the main energy producers, consumers and transit countries. The transatlantic energy dialogue, EU energy cooperation with Russia and Caspian and Black Sea regions as well as the development of the Baltic energy strategy will be the core issues for discussion at the conference. We will give the platform to major actors in the energy field for an open debate on a broad range of global and regional energy issues.
The Vilnius Energy Security Conference will address these and other issues which are crucial not only for political leaders, but also for the private sector and academic community. Therefore, the high-level conference will be complemented by a special conference for energy companies and experts from all over the world. It will be an excellent opportunity to discuss the most important energy related issues and to start a dialogue, full of fast moving ideas and thought provoking insights.
Time is ripe for us to reach an agreement on a common vision of the future European and global energy policy. By uniting our efforts, we can find the best solutions and not miss a historic opportunity to address today the challenges of tomorrow.