Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24
By Anakhanum Hidayatova – Trend:
Romania and Azerbaijan enjoy traditionally very close and friendly relationships, developing since 2009 within the framework of the bilateral strategic partnership, Romanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Dan Iancu told reporters in Baku.
“Over the years there were eight visits of Romanian presidents to Baku, President Ilham Aliyev visited Bucharest five times,” he said. “The two countries develop extensive dialogue and cooperation at the level of parliaments, of the ministries for foreign affairs, as well as between other governmental bodies.”
During the past three years there has been a steady increase of the bilateral trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Romania, he added.
For the whole of 2015 (according to Romanian data) the bilateral trade stood at $161.3 million, which is 13 percent more compared to 2014, with a balance in favor of Azerbaijan, he noted.
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR has opened a branch in Romania and is presently expanding its activities on the country’s market, Iancu said.
“Ensuring a stable, safe and prosperous neighborhood is a top priority for Romania,” the ambassador noted. “To this end, Romania is active in maintaining an increased EU focus on the Eastern Neighborhood and supports the Eastern Partnership and the Black Sea Synergy as effective EU tools for the region.”
The protracted conflicts in the Eastern Neighborhood, including the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, remain a source of concern and a focal point of attention for Romanian diplomacy in the EU, Iancu added.
“Romania strongly supports the development of the EU-Azerbaijan relationship and hopes for the swift start of negotiations on a comprehensive and ambitious agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan,” he said.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Romania amounted to $132.544 million in Jan.-Oct. 2016, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.
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