Trend's excusive interview with Mr. Erkki Tuomioja, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, who also heads the European Union's Troika for South Caucasus Countries
Question: How do you estimate the results of EU Troika visit to the South Caucasus? What importance does EU attach to the cooperation with the South Caucasus countries and especially with Azerbaijan the leader in the region?
Answer: The EU Troika visit was very timely and successful. The key result was the political agreement on the ENP Action Plans. They are now finalized and can be adopted formally between the EU and each of the South Caucasus countries. I'm especially happy that we succeeded in finalizing them during the Finnish EU Presidency. The Action Plans are ready for implementation. Now Azerbaijan has a chance - and a challenge - to take next steps with the implementation of the Action Plan.
The South Caucasus is important to the EU for several reasons. It is also in our interest that Azerbaijan, as well as the rest of our neighborhood is stable and prosperous, and with the ENP we aim exactly at this: it is a powerful tool for the EU and Azerbaijan to work together towards these goals, based on our common values. We are also interested in the Southern Caucasus region from a commercial perspective, and I see good opportunities for cooperation there. Energy issues are also very high on all agendas nowadays, and we look forward to cooperating closely with Azerbaijan in the energy field in the future. I'm happy that the Memorandum of Understanding on a strategic partnership between EU and Azerbaijan on energy issues is also ready for signature early November.
Question: How could the adoption of the ENP Action Plan bring together the EU and Azerbaijan? Which items of the ENP Action Plan do you regard as the most important? When and where will the ENP Action Plan be finally approved?
Answer: The Action Plan means a significant step towards a closer relationship between the EU and Azerbaijan. EU's enlargement towards the East has brought the South Caucasus closer to EU borders and we see the possible potential of your region. We are ready to contribute to the development and stabilization of the region, also with increased financial assistance. The Action Plan sets priorities for concrete actions in order to bring the EU and Azerbaijan closer.
The core idea of European Union itself, and also of our Neighbourhood Policy, is integration on the basis of shared values, enhancing cooperation in all spheres, as well as contacts between people. We believe this will bring about democracy, stability and prosperity. I would say the peaceful settlement of conflicts and enhancing regional cooperation are among the most important priorities of the ENP Action Plan for Azerbaijan - as well as for Armenia and Georgia. The unresolved conflicts still remain the biggest impediment for development in the whole region. We are preparing discussion within the EU on how the ENP can be developed further to make it more efficient in enhancing regional cooperation. Some areas were we see possibilities in the short term are cross border cooperation in the fields of energy, transport and environment.
The formal adoption of the ENP Action Plans will take place in the Cooperation Council meetings between EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in Brussels on 14 November.
Question: The representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated their readiness for signing with the EU a memorandum on bilateral cooperation in the different spheres, including education and health. At present the development of the draft energy memorandum is coming to an end. Is the EU going to conduct talks on other spheres, including the humanitarian sphere?
Answer: We have noted the Azerbaijani interest in developing memoranda of understanding on strategic partnerships in other fields as well, besides the energy memorandum. The Commission is studying how we could best reply to the interest. The areas Azerbaijan has suggested for new strategic partnerships have been included in the ENP Action Plan, and will be treated as priorities anyway. Instruments for cooperation in these fields exist already.
Question: During the visit to the region the representatives of the EU Troika declared that adoption of the ENP Action plan will help to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Could these initiatives influence on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
Answer: The Action Plan as such is not a tool for conflict settlement, and doesn't have anything to do with the Minsk process. The EU continues to fully support the Minsk Group and the work of the Co-Chairmen. With the help of the ENP, the EU can also indirectly contribute to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by for example supporting regional cooperation and encouraging people-to-people contacts, promoting the active involvement of the civil society, supporting demining and assisting refugees and IDP etc. The EU will also intensify its own diplomatic dialogue with the parties. Our Special Representative to the region, Mr. Semneby, can also contribute to the peace process.
Question: During his official visit to Helsinki this summer the Azerbaijani Minister for Foreign Affairs discussed different aspects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Finland. What concrete steps will be taken in this direction?
Answer: Due to the Finnish EU Presidency, cooperation between Finland and Azerbaijan has also been mostly discussed in the EU framework during the last several months, but we do have an intensive dialogue going on also bilaterally. Our trade, for example, has increased considerably in the last few years. Finland has high technological know-how and Azerbaijan has important natural resources - factors which create lots of possibilities for our cooperation in the future.
Our Ministries of Defence have cooperated in the field of training on crisis management and peacekeeping, and we hope for this cooperation to continue. There are several bilateral agreements already in force. Azerbaijan has recently ratified the tax agreement between Finland and Azerbaijan. Negotiations on a road transport agreement are going on, and we have agreed to start negotiations on customs duty cooperation after the Finnish EU Presidency.
In addition to your Foreign Minister Mammadyarov's visit to Finland in late June this year, there have also been other bilateral high-level contacts lately. Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland visited Azerbaijan in 2005 and naturally, a return visit to Finland by your President Aliyev and possibly a business delegation is being planned in due course.