Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan is an important country for Sweden and the entire Europe, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt made the statement at a meeting with Azerbaijani Ambassador Adish Mammadov , AzerTag news agency reported.

Bildt said Sweden attached great importance to developing partnership with Azerbaijan.

For his part, Mammadov highlighted political, economic and legal reforms conducted in the country.

He said Azerbaijan is a tolerant state without any national and religious discrimination.

The sides discussed Azerbaijan-Europe relations and the country's role in ensuring energy security of Europe.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also discussed during the meeting.

Mammadov said the problem had a negative impact on overall development of both Azerbaijan and the region. He noted Europe had to increase efforts towards finding a solution to the dispute.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.