Azerbaijan , Baku, Sept. 5 / Trend S. Agayeva /
The friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Belgium have broad prospects, Azerbaijani Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Head of Azerbaijani representation to the European Union, Emin Eyyubov said.
"The friendly and partnership relations between Azerbaijan and Belgium have broad prospects, especially to further develop bilateral economic ties," ambassador said in an interview with Trend. "We try to use every opportunity to strengthen our cooperation."
T he Belgians were familiarized with Azerbaijan, its ancient history, rich culture, vast economic potential by joint efforts despite the short period passed after the diplomatic relations were established, diplomat said.
"The political high-level contacts are intensively developing," he said. "The meetings were held with the leadership of the country during the visits of National Leader Heydar Aliyev and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Brussels within the EU and NATO and bilateral format. They discussed the prospects of developing bilateral relations. The documents creating the legal base and promoting the development of economic ties between our countries were signed. The inter-parliamentary ties are successfully developing. The parliamentary friendship groups actively cooperate."
The Belgian embassy, the only Belgian diplomatic representation in the South Caucasus has been operating in Baku since 2007. Undoubtedly, it contributes to the intensification of the relations between our two countries, diplomat said.
He said that the political consultations are planned to be held between foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Belgium this year to further strengthen bilateral relations, as well as to determine new sectors of cooperation. The embassy plans to establish the Belgium-Azerbaijan Commerce Chamber. It will play a major coordinating role for the two countries' entrepreneurs to find partners in Azerbaijan.
"A military sphere is another important area of cooperation between the two countries," diplomat said. "The countries are actively cooperating in this sphere. "Baku is a transit point for the Belgian military aircrafts making flights to Afghanistan. The representatives of the military departments of both countries exchange visits. The sides a greed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding in the military sphere. The sides have exchanged the texts of the draft memorandum."
"It should be stressed that there is the federal structure of the government in Belgium," he said. "The powers were distributed between federal bodies and local authorities. The certain areas of cooperation are concentrated at the level of local executive bodies. The federal authorities deal with some areas. Moreover, after the parliamentary elections of 2007 and 2010, the country experiences a political crisis. As a result, the government was not formed in the country more than a year. Undoubtedly, these factors affect the pace of developing the bilateral relations. However, the proximity of the Azerbaijan-Belgium positions is the real basis for a broad and productive dialogue at all levels."