Kazakhstan, Astana / corr. Trend K.Anirova / A number of project documents are being devised to be ready for signing for the upcoming official visit of Azerbaijan President, Ilham Aliyev, to Kazakhstan, on 7-8 August. "Three or four significant documents will be signed. The first one is a joint declaration between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan," said the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan, Latif Gandilov, on 1 August.
In addition, both parties are preparing the project of agreement on cooperation between the National TV and Radio Council of Azerbaijan and the TV Company of Kazakhstan, as well as a protocol on amendments and annexes to the agreement between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on extradition of persons sentenced to imprisonment. Further an agreement on regulation of the financial market will be signed between the Committees on Securities of the two countries.
In addition, the two sides are devising documents regarding the oil and gas sector. "In regards to the Memorandum on the Caspian transport system and transport agreement to connect Kazakhstan to Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the oil specialists of the two countries are working on it. I cannot say if they will be completing the document until the visit," Gandilov said.
The Ambassador believes that the upcoming meetings of the two leaders in Astana will promote relations. "The relations between the two countries have been developing dynamically over the recent period and the upcoming meetings of the two State Heads should assist in propelling them into a new stage. Our positions coincide on many international issues, particularly in defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea. Over the period of independency of the two countries, a rich legal base has been established, including more than eighty Inter-Governmental agreements have been signed," Gandilov said.
He stressed that energy, transport, and agriculture are the key spheres for active cooperation between the two countries. "These are base spheres that define the character of our relations. The first plan includes exact transport relations from the point of view of globalization tendencies. The TRACECA project assumes great importance for integrating West into East," he said.
The Ambassador remembered that one of Ilham Aliyev's first visits as State Head in 2003 was paid to Kazakhstan. In 2004, Azerbaijan President attended the CIS Summit in Kazakhstan. In 2005, the President of Kazakhstan made a visit to Baku to participate in the opening ceremony of the Azerbaijani section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. In 2006, Ilham Aliyev attended the Council on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia's Summit in Almata. During the visit, an agreement was signed regarding Kazakhstan's connection to Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
"If in 2004 only one meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission took place, the number of the meetings in the current year equaled five. It testifies that permanent talks are taking place between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan," the Ambassador concluded.