No:004/25, Press release on the meeting of Deputy Minister Elnur Mammadov with the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus Magdalena Grono
08 January 2025 20:52
On 8 January 2025, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Elnur Mammadov, met with the delegation led by the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Magdalena Grono.
At the beginning of the meeting, Special Representative Magdalena Grono expressed her condolences regarding the tragic crash of the aircraft belonging to “Azerbaijan Airlines” and noted that the European Union had conveyed to the Azerbaijani side its readiness to provide assistance immediately after the accident occurred.
During the meeting, the bilateral and multilateral cooperation agenda between Azerbaijan and the European Union, regional security issues, including the prospects of the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia were discussed.
During the meeting, the importance of Azerbaijan-European Union cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, energy, transport and communications was noted. Touching upon the role played by Azerbaijan in Europe’s energy security, hope was expressed that this role would further increase in the future with the implementation of projects envisaging the export of green energy resources from Azerbaijan to Europe.
Against the background of Azerbaijan’s successful hosting of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in November 2024, the possible contribution of measures such as environmental protection, combating ecological threats and green transition to the enrichment of the Azerbaijan-European Union cooperation agenda was discussed.
During the meeting, Deputy Minister E. Mammadov provided the other side with detailed information on the latest situation in the region after Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty, the current stage of the negotiations on the draft peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the progress achieved so far in the bilateral format, the return of former internally displaced persons to their ancestral lands, and the mine threat posing a serious obstacle to this process.
Possible support from the European Union was discussed in clarifying the fate of Azerbaijanis missing as a result of the past Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, clearing areas contaminated with mines, and restoring regional connections.
It was emphasized that the activities of the European Union Mission in Armenia and the arming of Armenia at the expense of financial assistance from the European Peace Facility do not serve peace, but on the contrary, such activities strengthen revanchist tendencies against Azerbaijan.
During the meeting, an exchange of views was also held on other bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.
