Brussels, 17/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - In a backdrop to the inter-ministerial conference on energy and transport on 13-14 November, the European Commission and Azerbaijan began negotiations for concluding a horizontal aviation agreement. This conference was organised in Baku (Azerbaijan) and brought together a number of representatives from the Commission and governments from the two regions (notably Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Bulgaria). It highlighted the need to strengthen cooperation between the EU and these regions, as well as within the regions in the areas of energy and transport. In one of the meetings at the conference, the director of DG Energy and Transport, François Lamoureux, met the Azerbaijan transport minister, Zia Mamedov, to begin negotiations on concluding a horizontal aviation agreement between the EU and Caucasian republic. This aviation agreement, which constitutes a concrete expression of the desire to strengthen cooperation between the EU and this part of the world, is of the same kind as those concluded recently between the EU, Georgia and Chile (EUROPE 22 and 29 September). Once in force, the agreement will provide access to the Azerbaijani aviation market for all European airlines from all Member States. It will not replace the existing bilateral aviation agreements between EU Member States and the country but will bring them into line with Community law by getting rid of discriminatory provisions forcing European airlines to fly to Azerbaijan from their countries of origin.
The Commission considers that current and future enlargement of the EU and Azerbaijan calls for greater cooperation in transport and energy between the EU and countries of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea areas, as well as reinforced regional cooperation. This explains why during the conference, participants agreed to support the gradual development of energy markets in these regions, in order to facilitate their progressive integration into the EU energy market and attempt to gain more funding for investment into new infrastructure and develop energy efficiency programmes. In transport, they decided to contribute to the identification of priority projects in the context of the EU's extension of Trans-European transport networks to neighbouring countries, highlight the importance of the Galileo radio-navigation satellite programme and work together to strengthen security and road safety.