25/7 Tass 12
BAKU, July 25 (Itar-Tass) —— Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski arrived in the Azarbaijani capital Baku late on Sunday on a two-day official visit within his tour of South Caucasian states. His talks with the Azerbaijani leaders will focus on closer bilateral relations and European integration.
According to diplomatic sources, on Monday the Polish president will meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, first tete-a-tete, and then in an extended format involving delegations of the two countries. The sides are expected to discuss the whole range of bilateral ties, with a special emphasis on economic cooperation. It is expected that energy cooperation will be in the focus of attention. The talks may traditionally center round issues of pumping Azerbaijani oil via the Odessa-Brody-Plock-Gdansk pipeline. Azerbaijan has expressed its political support to the project, in which both Poland and the entire European Union are interested. Some sources say Baku has offered Ukraine to pump up to eight million tons of oil a year via the Odessa-Brody pipeline. The Baku talks may discuss a longer pipeline route up to Poland’s Plock and Gdansk. Several years ago, Poland and Ukraine established a joint venture, Sarmartia, to build the Brody-Plock section of the pipeline, with a length of 490 kilometers.
Apart from it, the sides will discuss possibilities for mutual investments, joint projects in such areas as science-intensive industries. These issues will also be raised at an Azerbaijani-Polish business forum the two leaders plan to attend.
Among issues of international politics, the talks will focus on closer cooperation between the two countries within international organizations, more efforts geared towards Azerbaijan’s integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures. According to experts, the sides will focus on the preparations for an Eastern Partnership summit that is to be held in Warsaw in the autumn. Along with other Trans-Caucasian republics, Azerbaijan is a member of this program designed to ensure integration of these countries into the European Union.
The talks are expected to yield a number of bilateral documents.
During his stay in Azerbaijan, the Polish president will meet with speaker of Azerbaijan’s parliament Oktai Asadov, will take part in the Azerbaijani-Polish business forum, and make a sightseeing tour of Baku’s historical monuments.