We would like to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan Egils Levits, Fmr.President of the Republic of Latvia

Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Levits, how would you assess the results of the visit made to Azerbaijan early in March?

Egils Levits, Fmr. President of the Republic of Latvia: Latvia and Azerbaijan have built stable bilateral ties and Latvia is keen to continue political dialogue on all levels. Local governments in both countries have already signed 14 different cooperation agreements, while Latvia and Azerbaijan will mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2024. Economic relations between Latvia and Azerbaijan have been on the rise in recent years. We are ready to discuss deeper cooperation in areas such as information and communications technologies, smart energy and green technologies. Transport and logistics are another sector. Azerbaijan is key for EU’s efforts to diversify natural gas suppliers and routes, thereby strengthening Europe’s energy independence. We would like to expand this cooperation to renewables.

Latvia is one of those NATO member states that support ever closer cooperation between the Alliance and Azerbaijan in scope of the Partnership for Peace initiative. It is committed to keep Latvian embassy in Baku as the Allied contact point embassy until 2024.

Latvia is ready to contribute to stronger international organisations and rules-based international order – a goal that could be pursued more successfully together with Azerbaijan, and in the build-up to Latvia’s candidature to the UN Security Council in 2025.