Trend's exclusive interview with Ivan Palchev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to Azerbaijan on the threshold of the visit of the Bulgarian Speaker to Azerbaijan
- Georgiy Pirinsky, Bulgaria Speaker is expected to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan this week. Which issues will be the priority in the agenda of the forthcoming negotiations with the Azerbaijani party within the above-mentioned visit?
- Chairman of the Bulgarian People Assembly will arrive in Baku on November 22 to take part in the sitting of the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. During the forthcoming meeting, the chair of the Organization will be passed to Bulgaria. As soon as the sitting of the Organization is completed, on November 24-25, the official visit of the Bulgarian Speaker to Azerbaijan will be commenced.
The Bulgarian Speaker will be accompanied by representative delegation consisting of members of all fractions of the Bulgarian Parliament and the Government of the Country. The agenda of the visit includes meetings with the Azerbaijani Speaker Ogtay Assadov, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Premier-Minister Artur Rasizadeh, and certainly with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The Bulgarian Speaker will also visit the Baku Slavic University, where he will get acquainted with the activity of the Bulgarian Culture Centre, as well as meet students and pedagogical staff of the University.
Bulgaria is a parliamentary state. The supreme authority of the Country is the Parliament. All the other bodies of authority submit to the Parliament. Being the Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament, Mr. Pirinsky has wide authorities, and he is about to discuss the wide spectrum of different issues on both the bilateral and regional cooperation, as well as cooperation of an international nature with the Azerbaijani party.
- Bulgaria joins EU starting January 1, 2007. Which role that could play in Bulgaria bilateral relations with Azerbaijan?
- It is true that Bulgaria will join EU starting from Janury, 2007. According to EU requirements, all the member-states of the Organization should unify their legislation in accordance with the EU requirements. The contract and legal base between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria today consists of 28 documents which will be reviewed once more and unified to meet the EU requirements and standards. At the same time, a new package of agreements of a bilateral nature is being worked out. It is expected to cover different spheres of cooperation..
Being the Ambassador, I am quite satisfied with the development of political contacts. For three years of the activity of the Bulgarian Embassy to Azerbaijan, all possible visits at a level of Ministers and Chiefs of Bodies, Speakers, and Presidents have been paid.
However, economic relations between our countries do not completely meet the existing potential of the two countries. The commodity turnover between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan reached just $6-8 mln. last year.
I have had a lot contacts with businessmen of the both countries, invited them, gave them advises, but their interest to business was of curious tourists. However, that will have its reasons. First of all, the lack of direct air flights between Baku and Sofia impedes developing the mutual relations. There are intentions to establish a new charter air flight Baku-Varna in the next year, and to attempt to develop tourism. I hope that the mutual skepticism that is now connected with Bulgaria joining EU will act in the reverse direction and make businessmen of the two countries to mutually cooperate.
- How could you estimate perspectives of cooperation between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan in energy field? Which perspective directions of this cooperation could you mark?
- For about 12 years, Bulgaria, Russia, and Greece have held negotiations on constructing oil pipeline Burgas-Aleksandrupolis. Finally, a month ago, the three Presidents met and signed the corresponding document. Not only Russia oil but also Azerbaijani one, which is carried via the Russian territory through oil pipeline Baku-Novorossiysk will connect to the pipeline. At present, a project on transporting gas from Erzurum via route Turkey-Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria is being worked out. The construction of a pipeline is expected to be launched in the next year. And I think that by 2011, the gas will reach Bulgaria.
- What is Bulgaria's position toward the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
- Bulgaria position toward the Nagorno-Karabakh issue remains unchanged. The most important in this position is that Bulgaria adheres the thesis that Nagorno-Karabakh will always be a part of Azerbaijan, and , as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have repeatedly stated this territory may obtain the highest autonomy, but only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. And I think the conflicting parties themselves are gradually trending to this position.