Azerbaijani and Ukrainian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Victor Yanukovych held a closed-door meeting in Kiev. Aliyev arrived in Ukraine yesterday. Vladimir Fesenko, head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research, emphasized that both leaders are interested in energy cooperation.
The expert noted that they needed to determine the routes for Azerbaijani energy exports, solve technological problems and issues of financing such projects. He added that Ukraine could help Azerbaijan realize their energy and infrastructure projects with technologies.
Fesenko added that Ukraine was the chair of the OSCE and could, thus, contribute to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. On the other hand, Ukraine will chair the CIS in 2014. Both Ukraine and Azerbaijan search for a balance of interests in relations with Russia and the West, both want independent and balanced policy. The expert predicts that they will coordinate their foreign policy.He also noted that the situation was complicated and included such problems as the Middle East. Azerbaijan was more interested in settling the Iranian problem, security of Trans-Caucasus. The time of Saakashvili’s rule in Georgia came to an end and the situation needed a common approach to developments in Trans-Caucasus.
