Ukraine, Kiev, 10 April / corr. Trend Z. Novosvitski/ Azerbaijan has signed, with a proviso, the Declaration on Energy Cooperation between the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the European Union.
The document was signed on 10 April in Kiev as a result of a meeting between the ministers of energy of BSEC member-states and the meeting of BSEC Working Group on energy.
Azerbaijan, as a BSEC member, has warned of the bad influence of long-drawn conflicts on the regional cooperation and stated the importance to solve these conflicts soon in line with sovereignty principles and territorial integrity. "The Republic of Azerbaijan states that none of the provisions of the Declaration will be accepted by Azerbaijan regarding the Republic of Armenia," the Declaration states. Azerbaijan is taking into consideration the fact that at present, the territories of Azerbaijan are under Armenian occupation and Azerbaijan will not cooperate with Armenia in any manner unless its territories are liberated.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
The Declaration proposes the coordination of harmonization process of legislation and regulatory basis in energy among BSEC member states and EU, Sergey Pavlusha, the Deputy Energy Minister of Ukraine said to journalists. The sides have decided to propose EU join BSEC goals to ensure energy security in the region.
The Document also envisages the development of purposeful cooperation with European Commission to increase synergetic effect in realization of regional initiatives of BSEC and EU in energy. The document stresses the importance of developing the unified regional energy BSEC strategy.
BSEC includes Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.
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