Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman began his official visit to Azerbaijan on Tuesday with talks with President Ilham Aliyev. The talks focused on strengthening the two countries’ strategic partnership in accordance with the Declaration on Strategic Partnership, signed in 2013.
Grlić Radman expressed strong support for cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan, notably in the Eastern Partnership format. “We are pushing for a more active role of the EU in the region, including the transfer of EU expertise in border delimitation and demarcation. We believe that the upcoming EU-Eastern Partnership Summit in December will be an opportunity to strengthen cooperation after redefinition of goals and obligations post-2020,” the minister said. He underscored support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and offered Croatia’s expertise and experience from the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region, as well as in accommodating displaced persons. The two officials also exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan, with an emphasis on the humanitarian situation and curbing illegal migration.
Grlić Radman also met with Parliament Speaker Sahiba Gafarova for talks on interparliamentary cooperation and overall bilateral relations
The Croatian delegation includes representatives of the Croatian business community, who will meet with their Azerbaijani counterparts and attend the Croatian-Azerbaijani economic forum on Wednesday. On the second day of his visit, Grlić Radman will open the forum and meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Rashad Nabiyev and Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov, with whom he is due to sign a memorandum of understanding on assistance in tax collection.