FOREIGN MINISTERS OF LITHUANIA AND AZERBAIJAN SIGN THE BILATERAL AGREEMENT ON THE ABOLITION OF VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR THE HOLDERS OF DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS
On 6 December in Vilnius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamadiarov signed a bilateral agreement on the abolition of visa requirements for the holders of diplomatic passports.
The official ceremony was held during the OSCE Ministerial Council session in Vilnius.A.Ažubalis noted that this initiative would contribute to the development of direct people-to-people contacts in the two countries and would facilitate travelling to the EU.
During the conversation with E.Mamadiarov, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs asked Azerbaijan for support and a constructive position on response to modern cyber security and energy security issues, safety of journalists, media pluralism, strengthening of the OSCE conflict resolution capacity and adoption of a regional declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The OSCE Chairman emphasized that Lithuania’s Chairmanship gave a lot of attention to protracted conflicts.
According to A.Ažubalis, Lithuania’s Chairmanship of the organization aims to build up mutual trust between the conflicting sides. The Minister reminded of the need to implement the agreement between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan that was reached in Sochi and to establish an early response mechanism aimed at reducing the tension between the sides of the conflict.
The Minister welcomed the joint statement by the heads of delegation of the Minsk Group co-chair countries and the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
A.Ažubalis invited Azerbaijani business representatives to more actively take advantage of the benefits of the high-speed container train ‘Viking’, which links trade flows between the East and the West carrying cargo to Northern Europe. According to the Minister, this project could become useful for carrying the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) cargo to Afghanistan.
The meeting also discussed other issues related to bilateral relations. The meeting of the Lithuanian-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission is to be held in the beginning of 2012 in Baku.
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