Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Maltese counterpart George Vella identified priority areas for the bilateral cooperation on several sectors, including tourism, investment and transport.

Mammadyarov met with George Vella within the framework of his official visit to Malta on April 18.

Gladly recalling his visit to Azerbaijan and the meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, Vella shared his positive impressions on the country.

The ministers expressed satisfaction on the current level of relationship and political dialogue between the countries and mentioned the importance of recently-paid mutual high level visits in development of bilateral ties.

They noted that the relationship in the field of energy remains mutually beneficial and there is a wide range of areas, namely tourism, investment, transport, with full of potential for economic cooperation.

Enhancement of legal-treaty base and signing of certain documents were emphasized critically important with regard to further advancing of relations, especially in the fields of economy, culture and education.

The ministers noted that terrorism and unresolved conflicts remain the main threat to the international peace, stability and security. In this regard, Mammadyarov briefed his counterpart about the current status of negotiations on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, as well as stance of Azerbaijan on this matter.

The Azerbaijan-European Union relations and the contribution of Maltese Presidency to this process were also discussed at the meeting.

Vella expressed support by Malta on signing of Strategic Partnership Agreement between Azerbaijan and European Union and talked about Azerbaijan’s importance for Europe in the fields of energy and transport.

The ministers exchanged views on current projects in those fields.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, Mammadyarov said at the meeting with Angelo Farrugia, the Speaker of the Maltese Parliament.

During the meeting, the sides expressed their satisfaction with the current level of cooperation and mutual high-level visits between Azerbaijan and Malta. They stressed that such visits are very important in terms of expanding the bilateral relations.

The sides also emphasized the role of parliamentary diplomacy and hailed the importance of cooperation between the legislative bodies of two countries. They commended the contributions of parliamentary friendship groups to advance these relations.

Farrugia recalled his visits to Azerbaijan and shared his positive impressions about our country.

Mammadyarov, in turn, informed about ongoing negotiations on the draft Strategic Partnership Agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union.

The sides also exchanged views on enhancement of cooperation within international organizations as well as other issues of mutual interest.

Earlier in the day, the minister met with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Following his Malta visit, Mammadyarov will travel to Italy.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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