Azerbaijan, Syria can cooperate in economy, politics, Karabakh

Interfax, Russia
July 9 2009

AZERBAIJAN, SYRIA CAN COOPERATE IN ECONOMY, POLITICS, KARABAKH …

Azeri-Syrian relations have vast prospects. The two countries are
successfully cooperating at the UN and the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said after negotiations
with Syrian President Bashar al-Asad in Baku on Wednesday.

We have very good prospects in the economic sphere. The business forum
planned for tomorrow will strengthen cooperation between the two
business communities, he said.

In the words of Aliyev, he told al-Asad about the current state of the
Karabakh settlement negotiations impeded by Armenian unwillingness to
meet international commitments, including four relations of the UN
Security Council that demanded the unconditional Armenian pullout from
the occupied territories.

The Middle East conflict can be settled only on the basis of the
liberation of all occupied territories, Syrian President Bashar
al-Asad said.

"There can be no concessions on our side. Naturally one cannot speak
of peace in the Middle East without the return of occupied lands,"
al-Asad said after the talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in Baku
on Wednesday.

Speaking about Nargorno-Karabakh, al-Asad said that Azerbaijan’s
stance is based on international law and spoke for the speedy
settlement of the conflict. He noted that Syria as a country having
good relations with both sides to the conflict is ready to make its
contribution to its settlement.

Meanwhile, Aliyev said that Azeri-Syrian relations have good prospects
and that the two countries successfully cooperate at the United
Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.