Azerbaijan – Meeting between Jean-Yves Le Drian and his counterpart (Paris, 16 January 2018)
Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, will receive Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov on January 16. During his working visit, Mr. Mammadyarov will also be received by Minister of State attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.
France maintains continuous dialogue with Azerbaijan, our main economic partner in the South Caucasus. While Azerbaijan would like to diversify its economy, the discussions will provide an opportunity to take stock of the projects involving French companies, notably in the areas of energy, transport, the environment, urban development and tourism.
The ministers will discuss the development of bilateral cooperation, notably academic cooperation (the main pillar of which is the French-Azerbaijani University in Baku, which has been in operation for two years), as well as decentralized cooperation, the steering committee for which is due to meet very soon in Paris.
The ministers will also address relations between Azerbaijan and the EU, regional security and the process to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Jean-Yves Le Drian will stress the importance of implementing the decisions made by the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents during their meeting in Geneva on October 16, 2017. He will assure his counterpart of France’s full commitment to the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to find a negotiated and lasting solution to the conflict.