Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 7
Trend:
Armenia violates human rights of refugees and IDPs of Azerbaijan who were forcefully subjected to ethnic cleansing, said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
He made the remarks at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Mats Andersson as part of his official visit to Sweden, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message Nov. 7.
During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the ways to develop bilateral cooperation, including mutual high level visits. It was noted that the existing political dialogue based on mutual understanding plays an important role in the development of bilateral relations between Sweden and Azerbaijan.
Talking about strategic road map on development of economy in Azerbaijan, especially the development of non-oil sector, and about the measures taken to diversify export and conducted the fundamental reforms to this end, Elmar Mammadyarov mentioned that there is a huge potential for the cooperation in science, information and communication technologies, tourism, manufacturing and other spheres between the two countries.
In this regard, the importance of establishing business relations among business circles of Azerbaijan and Sweden and holding of joint business forums was mentioned.
Speaking about the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which was inaugurated on October 30, Minister Mammadyarov stated that East-West and North-South international transport corridors that are implemented with the initiation and participation of Azerbaijan, promise strengthening of inter-continental relations, peace, stability and economic prosperity.
During the meeting, Mammadyarov touched upon the negotiation process on the resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and drew the attention to the fact that to change the status quo that heads of states of co-chair countries of OSCE Minsk Group declared as unacceptable and unsustainable, the fact of occupation must end and the armed forces of Armenia must withdraw from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on the basis of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
He brought into the attention of Deputy Prime Minister the decision of Council of Europe Court of Human Rights “Chiragov and others v. Armenia”, which Armenia refuses to accept and implement.
The relations between the EU and Azerbaijan were also discussed during the meeting and it was mentioned that the Southern Gas Corridor project and its important component – TAP project will have a significant contribution to the European energy security.