Azerbaijan strengthens ties with Europe in Bucharest
Strategic agreement highlighting the importance of the Central Asian country in the field of transport and communications. Azerbaijan is expected to double its gas deliveries to the European market by 2027. Other agreements connect Tbilisi, Bucharest and Budapest with Baku on the laying of electricity cables on the Black Sea bed.
Bucharest (AsiaNews) - The Prime Minister of Romania, Ion-Marcel Ciolacu, received a visit in Bucharest from the president of the Milli Medžlis, the parliament of Baku, Sakhiba Gafarova, stating that "Azerbaijan plays a very important role in ensuring the energy security of the European Union”.
Underlining the positive developments in strategic relations between the two countries, he expressed his belief that "Azerbaijan and Romania are not just good trading partners, but two friendly countries."
Romania is the first EU country to have signed a strategic agreement with Azerbaijan, which highlights the importance of Baku in the field of transport and communications, in the route between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
In July last year, moreover, a memorandum was agreed between Azerbaijan and the European Commission for collaboration in the energy field, according to which Baku should double its gas deliveries on the European market by 2027. Currently, Azerbaijani gas is already distributed to Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Italy, and now exports to Romania will also begin.
If all the systematic crossing pipelines work properly, it will also reach Hungary and Slovakia by the end of the year.
Other agreements connect Tbilisi, Bucharest and Budapest with Baku on the laying of electrical cables on the bottom of the Black Sea, again to strengthen Azerbaijani energy supplies in Europe.
European President Ursula von der Leyen called this ambitious project the “Black Sea Electricity Connection”, to unite both the energy and digital parts. Today the Azeris are worried about the pressure from various quarters on the European Commission, which is asked to condemn Azerbaijan for the military action in Nagorno Karabakh, also from various parliamentary groups of the Union itself, some of which ask to stop energy deals with Baku and introduce sanctions against it.
On the Azerbaijani website Zerkalo.az, the columnist Akper Gasanov is highly critical of Malta, which "is completely dependent on supplies of liquid gas from Azerbaijan" and joins the "chorus of criticism for having defended our territorial integrity", a position which is defined as "a clear and classic example of cheap populism, which allows itself to be excited by the circumstances of the moment, even forgetting its own national interests", and the Maltese and other representatives of various countries are advised to "listen to the opinion of the Romanians , and others".
Another friend of the Azeris is indicated by Gasanov in the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who in the recent meeting in Grenada had indicated Azerbaijan as "a country of crucial importance, without it we would not have energy independence".
Italy is also cited as a "friendly" country towards Baku, contrary to the "hypocritical and lying positions of many European politicians", and the comment ends with an Azerbaijani proverb, according to which "the caravan advances, despite the barking bastards."
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20/04/2011
