European Council President António Costa travelled to Baku on Wednesday to continue developing the European Union’s cooperation with Azerbaijan on defence, security and especially energy, as the escalating war in Iran grips the global energy markets with unforeseen consequences.
Costa held talks with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and expressed the EU’s “full solidarity with the people of Azerbaijan,” following Iran’s attack on Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan last week.
Since the beginning of the Iran war, Azerbaijan has helped evacuate around 1,800 people from Iran to Azerbaijan, including EU nationals.
“Let me extend my sincere appreciation for the assistance that Azerbaijan has provided to European citizens to facilitate their safe repatriation from Iran”, Costa said in a joint briefing with Aliyev.
New framework for closer cooperation
Costa said Brussels and Baku are now working on a new framework for closer cooperation, intended to widen relations beyond their existing energy links.
According to the European Council president’s statement, the proposed framework would deepen cooperation in the fields of security, defence, energy, digital development and transport.
“This sends a strong signal of our joint vision for the future,” Costa said, underlining that “energy security is a cornerstone of the EU’s cooperation with Azerbaijan.
He stated that Azerbaijan, and specifically the Southern Gas Corridor, has been central to the EU’s efforts to diversify its supply sources for gas, oil, and coal.
With the war in Iran shaking the global energy market, Costa said this regent partnership is now “more important than ever”.
“The EU stands ready to mobilise private investment and financing to support Azerbaijan’s energy transition. We also encourage greater involvement of European clean-tech companies in your ambitious plans,” the EU council president said.
Costa also spoke of the potential for further purchases of Azerbaijan’s gas to Europe under the 2022 memorandum of understanding, which aims to double deliveries to 20 billion cubic metres.
Some 16 European countries currently receive Azerbaijani gas, Aliyev said, with 10 EU member states among the recipients.
Costa also pointed out the connectivity as another crucial area of cooperation between the sides, saying that “the development of the Middle Corridor represents a strategic opportunity for new transport connections.
“Completing the Baku-Nakhchivan rail link would be essential in that regard. By enhancing trade resilience between Europe and Asia, we can create jobs, drive growth, and strengthen our economies together,” Costa said.
South Caucasus role in Middle East
The war in Iran and the military escalation in the Middle East comes after Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a historic peace agreement after almost four decades of a tragic conflict.
“The Washington Agreements reflect your commitment to dialogue and reconciliation, and the EU stands with you in supporting their full implementation,” Costa said.
Aliyev responded that the two countries are “already living in conditions of long-term peace.”
He pointed out that over the past seven months, Azerbaijan has begun supplying additional petroleum products to Armenia and has removed all restrictions on the transit of goods from third countries to Armenia through Azerbaijani territory.
Aliyev added that the emerging peace environment is already strengthening the region’s economic and transit potential. In particular, he highlighted new opportunities for developing the Middle Corridor connecting Asia and Europe.
“Transit and connectivity issues are crucial. After reaching a preliminary peace agreement with Armenia, new opportunities have emerged to expand the Middle Corridor, which strengthens our optimism,” Aliyev said.
Armenia’s growing cooperation with Azerbaijan and the EU
Meanwhile on Wednesday, just as Costa and Aliyev were meeting in Baku to highlight peace in the South Caucasus, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg to underline Armenia’s ambitions for EU integration.
Last year, the country adopted the law announcing the beginning of the process of joining the 27-member bloc, and since then, Yerevan has been actively pursuing closer ties with Brussels.
“Now, after the adoption of this law, many in Armenia ask: When will Armenia become a member of the European Union? Our answer is very clear: no country can become a member of the EU without meeting its standards,” Pashinyan told the European Parliament.
In his speech, Pashinyan also rejected any criticism of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“We are criticised for the fact that the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not perfect,” the Armenian premier said. “But I ask you: Where is peace perfect? Where has perfect peace ever existed, and when?”
“On the contrary, it is the will to care for peace that can bring it as close to perfection as possible,” Pashinyan concluded.