ATHENS HOSTS AZERBAIJAN-GREECE BUSINESS FORUM

Athens, February 17 (AzerTAc). The Greek capital has today hosted an
Azerbaijan-Greece business forum. Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Greek leader Karolos Papoulias and Premier Kostas Karamanlis attended the opening ceremony.

Co-organized by the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation and Athens
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the event brought together representatives of over
100 Greek and about 20 Azerbaijani companies.
The forum was opened by President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Konstantinos Michalos who expressed confidence the gathering would serve to widen
the scope of economic relations between the two countries.
Greek President Karolos Papoulias said his country is keen to develop relations with
Azerbaijan. Mr. Papoulias said Greece places a particular emphasis on energy
cooperation with Azerbaijan, which he described as an important exporter of energy
resources and transit country.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said expanding cooperation between business
circles is very beneficial for both Azerbaijan and Greece. The Azerbaijani leader
said: “Talks we held and documents we signed during this trip will help our
countries deepen the bilateral relations”.
“We have great potential in the non-energy sector as well”
“Our economic reforms helped us become one of the world`s most rapidly developing
countries. We have the highest record of per capita foreign investment among CIS
countries. These investments were spent both on energy and non-energy sectors”
President Ilham Aliyev noted.
He said oil production grew more than five-fold in Azerbaijan over last few years,
adding the country has turned from “an importer into exporter of natural gas in the
last two years”.
President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon the situation in the South Caucasus, saying
there are potential threats to the region`s stability and security. “The biggest one
is the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. We want this conflict to
be solved on the basis of international legal norms”.
“Armenia continues to reject four UN Security Council resolutions condemning its
occupation of Azerbaijani lands” the President of Azerbaijan added.
Greece`s Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis stressed the importance of the Azerbaijani
President`s visit, saying it was a good opportunity to widely discuss bilateral,
regional and international issues and also sign several documents. Mr. Karamanlis
said the visit proved that both Azerbaijan and Greece are keen to develop their
relationship.
The Greek Premier said his country places a special importance to expanding energy
cooperation with Azerbaijan.
The forum provided an insight into business and investment climate in Azerbaijan and
Greece, and featured bilateral meetings between the two countries` businessmen.