Financiarul

Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan on Thursday, reads a release. During the visit the Minister met President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Parliament Speaker Ogtay Assadov, Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov and Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev.

The talks confirmed the excellent level of the Romanian-Azerbaijani relations, which were elevated to the rank of Strategic Partnership by the joint declaration of the two presidents being signed in Bucharest, on September 29, 2009.
The sides agreed on launching an action plan in economy, culture, energy, tourism, agriculture and transports for the materialization of the Strategic Partnership.
The two ministers examined the stage of the economic cooperation and established the priorities of the agenda of the next session of the Romanian-Azerbaijani Joint Economic Commission, whose date will be decided on in the time to come.

The Azerbaijani side confirmed its support to the Nabucco and PEOP projects, which are priorities for Romania, and stated again its willingness to to go thoroughly into the talks about the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector, which stipulates carrying the Azerbaijani gas in liquefied form to Constanta (south-eastern Romania). Romania will go on supporting a more marked involvement of the European Commission in generating a sustainable natural gas supply to the Nabucco pipeline.

Minister Baconschi stated again Romania’s support to the Republic of Azerbaijan coming closer to the European and Euro-Atlantic structures, with emphasis on the necessary to efficiently turn to account the opportunities offered by the European initiatives for the region, such as the Black Sea Synergy and the Eastern Partnership. The Romanian side will also go on playing an active part in promoting the Euro-Atlantic values in the Republic of Azerbaijan as a NATO Contact Point Embassy in Baku over 2009-2010.