Azerbaijan is strategically important for Croatia; we continue with energy and economic cooperation

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is on an official visit to Azerbaijan. With President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Ali Asadov and Parliament Speaker Sahiba Gafarova, he discussed economic cooperation, increasing the presence of Croatian companies on the Azerbaijani market, the mediation of the European Union in reaching a peace agreement with Armenia, and Croatian assistance in demining Azerbaijan.

"We discussed, first of all, bilateral relations that are important for Croatia," said the Croatian Prime Minister after the meeting.
 
He emphasized that Azerbaijan is strategically important for Croatia because we import more than 90 percent of oil from that country.
 
"We discussed the continuation of energy and economic cooperation. We agreed that the economic committee between Azerbaijan and Croatia, which was last held in 2021 in Croatia, should be held in Azerbaijan at the beginning of next year in order to consider all possibilities of cooperation," Plenković said.
 
He added that, apart from the energy sector, they advocated for the improvement of cooperation in the field of agriculture, the ICT sector, the industrial and the pharmaceutical sector, which also wants its niche in this market.
 
Regarding the security situation, which they also discussed, they heard the clarification of the Azerbaijani side about the events in the Karabakh region.
 
"Our position is that territorial integrity and international law should be respected," said Plenković, assessing that it is good that a large number of civilian casualties were avoided, as confirmed by the United Nations, and that there is a possibility of the return of Armenians who left the Karabakh region.
 
The Prime Minister of Croatia offered the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Croatia's help in the demining process.
 
"Their estimate is that they now have approximately one million mines on their territory, similar to the estimate of the United Nations in Croatia in 1995 and 1996, after operations Bljesak and Oluja and the liberation of temporarily occupied territories," said Plenković.

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