Kyiv hosts roundtable meeting dedicated to Azerbaijani-Ukrainian relations

The GuildHall news agency has hosted a roundtable meeting with the participation of experts, analysts, journalists and public figures on the topic “Ukraine - Azerbaijan: strategic partnership in the face of challenges to the global world order”, Report informs.

As part of the round table meeting, its participants analyzed the development of cooperation between the two countries since the restoration of state independence in 1991.

Head of the Doctrine Center for Political Studies, political scientist Yaroslav Bozhko noted that in 2022, the renewal of Ukrainian foreign policy began. “Ukraine is faced with the task of intensifying the dialogue with Azerbaijan, since last year showed how in demand all channels of cooperation are. But even at the European level there are good examples that can prove the prospect of a political dialogue between Ukraine and Azerbaijan,” Yaroslav Bozhko said.

Energy expert, former communications director of the National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine, head of the Supervisory Board of PJSC Zaporizhabraziv Maksym Bilavskyi thanked his colleagues from Azerbaijan for their contribution to supporting Ukraine’s energy sector, in particular, noting the contribution of SOCAR.

The speaker noted that the most successful example of cooperation in the energy sector is the opening of a representative office of SOCAR in 2009 in Ukraine. Today, the network is developing, but 60 filling stations are not enough against the backdrop of about 7,000 filling stations in the country. According to Bilavskyi, very promising areas of cooperation are the creation of an Eastern European gas hub on the territory of Ukraine, common projects in the field of alternative energy, a new oil transport corridor with the construction of the Brody-Plotsk oil pipeline (Adam’s gate), the involvement of Azerbaijan in the overall management of oil refineries in Ukraine, the work over the modernization of thermal power plants and others.

Volodymyr Kopchak, head of South Caucasus Branch of Ukrainian Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament studies (CACDS), spoke online on the topic “The War for Karabakh and the Russian-Ukrainian War: Common Goals, Experience, a Trap of Analogies.”

Expert of the Center for Middle East Studies Vera Konstantinova, in turn, spoke about cooperation between Ukraine and Azerbaijan within international organizations. She noted that one of the important directions of the foreign policy of Ukraine and Azerbaijan is upholding the norms of international law and the territorial integrity of the state, and this is the important aspect in which the two countries can combine their efforts in foreign diplomacy. “Azerbaijan’s experience in restoring the de-occupied territories, in particular, demining the territories, is important for us. Also, an important task within international platforms is to convey information about war crimes to the world community,” Vera Konstantinova said.

According to Rauf Agamirzeyev, an Azerbaijani expert in the field of transport and logistics, in the conditions of blocking transport routes by Russia, attempts are currently underway to find alternative opportunities to ensure logistics between Ukraine and Azerbaijan. According to the expert, one of such decisions is the opening of air communication between Baku and Chisinau in March 2023.

“There are flights from Baku to Warsaw and Budapest, but these flights are inconvenient due to the visa regime for Azerbaijanis. The Baku-Chisinau flight will make it easier to get from Ukraine to Azerbaijan and vice versa,” he said, adding that after the Russian invasion, all traditional routes were blocked in Ukraine, including highways, air traffic, Black Sea ports. “Ukraine is redirecting traffic flows from ports to railway transportation. Additional border points are being opened on the border with Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Perhaps they will be the focus in the search for new transport routes between Ukraine and Azerbaijan,” the expert noted.

Analyst, journalist of the Public Television of Azerbaijan Heydar Mirza spoke online in detail about the cooperation between Ukraine and Azerbaijan in the field of media and journalism. He said that relations between Ukrainian and Azerbaijani media representatives intensified during the Second Karabakh War. He added that it is necessary to develop platforms for cooperation and communication both between experts from Ukraine and Azerbaijan, and between journalists.