Azerbaijan, Baku, July 18 / Trend S. Agayeva /
Poland is ready to assist Azerbaijan within the Eastern Partnership programme, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told media in Baku today.
"Poland is ready to assist Azerbaijan within this programme in strengthening state borders, consular issues and for preparing a database for issuing the Schengen visa," he said.
The Polish foreign minister expressed his confidence that economic relations between the two countries will rise to the level of political relations before long.
"Energy was one of the main topics of our meetings in Baku," he said. "Poland supports the diversification of gas supply routes to Europe."
Poland has been chairing the Visegrad Group this year. It would be interesting for Azerbaijan to supply gas to Bulgaria and Romania. Warsaw is ready to help in this regard.
Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Polish foreign minister stressed Warsaw's position on this issue remains unchanged.
"We support Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," Sikorski said.
He added that Poland does not support any political ties with the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict must be resolved peacefully, Sikorski said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.