00:00Hello and welcome to Eurasia Talks from Davos, and I'm delighted to be joined today by Azerbaijan's president, Mr. Ilham Elieff.
00:12Thank you so much for joining us today. It's wonderful to see you.
00:16As you join world leaders here in Davos, we are at this moment witnessing a fundamental reassessment of the existing international system.
00:25Now, you've warned about this shift before. How does your country engage with this changing world order?
00:32And what is your message to world leaders?
00:35Well, actually, as you mentioned, we've been facing a situation when international law norms were not obligatory for all the actors of international community.
00:48Therefore, our strategic goal was to achieve results based on our national interest and with all respect to international law, do what we thought was right.
01:03And everything what we've done, whether it's political development or restoration of our sovereignty and territorial integrity, was in line with international law and common values.
01:17So today, as you mentioned, international relations are entering the new era, era where it is not the rule of law, but the rule of strength is ruling the situation.
01:32We can see it in different parts of the world.
01:35Therefore, it once again signals that every country should base their strategy and policy on their potential, establish good relations with as many countries as possible.
01:48First, in your region and second, on a global scale.
01:52Amid the historic peace deal in Armenia, the South Caucasus is evolving fast in a global context, you know, after decades of competing interests, influences and shifting alliances.
02:04How do you assess the current balance between risk and opportunity in the region?
02:11Today, Southern Caucasus also enters a new stage of development.
02:16We live in peace only for five, six months.
02:20We are learning to do it.
02:22We never lived in peace in all our independent history.
02:26And it's a special feeling.
02:27And of course, it's a great opportunity.
02:30Today, relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan are already evolving into a cooperation.
02:40We lifted all the restrictions on cargo transportation to Armenia.
02:46Moreover, we started to supply critical commodities to Armenia, primarily oil products, which the country is largely dependent on.
02:56And it's a win-win situation.
02:58So, I think that by joint efforts of Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the civil society, we will achieve not long-lasting peace, but peace forever in the Caucasus.
03:14This is our goal.
03:15We hope so, yes.
03:16With Iran as your neighbor, I want also mention, how is Azerbaijan engaging with the evolving crisis that we are seeing there?
03:24And what is your assessment of its impact of stability across Eurasia, also including the energy markets?
03:34Every country, including Azerbaijan, should think about stability around its borders, beyond its borders.
03:43With respect to Azerbaijan, we do not have any potential risks inside the country.
03:50All the potential risks can come from outside.
03:53Therefore, for us, stability in our neighborhood is something which we always think about, and we've been concerned about some destabilization in Iran.
04:07And for us, stability, predictability, and peace in the region is the biggest asset.
04:14We suffered from occupation, from war, from losing thousands of victims.
04:20And today, stability and security for every country is the only way to succeed.
04:28With respect to energy market, as you see, today, oil price is stable.
04:34It is at the appropriate level, at least for Azerbaijan.
04:39And it demonstrates that situation in Iran, situation in Venezuela, and in other parts of the world do not seriously influence the price of oil.
04:53And this is a good sign, because producers and consumers, they need to know the predictability of the situation in order to plan their future.
05:05So I hope that situation in the Southern Caucasus and around it will not deteriorate.
05:11Where do you feel that the South Caucasus sits in terms of being an emerging force in the energy sector and moving in towards the EU as well?
05:21With respect to energy sector, Azerbaijan is the only country in the Southern Caucasus which has energy resources and exports them.
05:30Two other countries of the Southern Caucasus import energy resources from Azerbaijan, Georgia, for many years, and now Armenia.
05:42And with respect to Europe and European Union, our energy cooperation is growing.
05:48We already supply natural gas to 16 countries, and 10 of them are members of European Union.
05:58So by this coverage, by geographical coverage of supply of pipeline gas, Azerbaijan is number one in the world.
06:06We have resources, we have transportation system, modern pipelines.
06:11We have good relations with many European countries, and for them, it's a way to strengthen the energy security.
06:21For us, it's an opportunity to sell our resources on the premium market.
06:27How do you feel and how do you react to this constant criticism of Azerbaijan from the EU Parliament?
06:34Well, we do not react any longer.
06:38We stopped reacting.
06:39We did react in the past.
06:41But, of course, it's so obvious that this bias situation to Azerbaijan is generated by special lobbying groups,
06:50by special forces which cannot digest Azerbaijan's independent policy.
06:58So we actually, for many years, already stopped any cooperation with European Parliament,
07:04and also with Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
07:09We cooperate with European Commission, and for us, it is enough.
07:14But I think European Parliament puts itself in a very awkward situation,
07:19accusing us of what we have never done, including so-called our aggressive position towards Armenia,
07:28while Armenia itself appreciates the relationship with Azerbaijan.
07:37And last August, the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan was initialed in the White House.
07:41So I hope that members of the European Parliament will find the courage to reconsider their unfair policy towards Azerbaijan.
07:50Mr. President, always a pleasure talking to you.
07:53Thank you for joining us on Euronews this morning.
07:55Thank you for your invitation.
07:56Thank you.
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