The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will likely visit Azerbaijan soon, in an effort to help secure the TAP pipeline deal. There are no set dates yet, however there is a good chance Mr. Samaras would visit Baku after his trip to China (14-18 May).
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos and his deputy Dimitris Kourkoulas visited Baku on the 29th and 30th of April and met the political and state leadership in Baku. Mr. Avramopoulos later announced preparations for setting up a bilateral high-level cooperation council, with the participation of ministries with common interests.
The Greek politicians met the President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov. As expected, discussions were dominated by energy and the TAP pipeline and its competitive Nabucco West pipeline. The Azeri Minister avoided getting into details about the joint operation, but was optimistic about the developing commercial relations between Greece and Azerbaijan.
Diplomatic circles were confident that the Azeri side wants to expand its strategic cooperation with Greece, with a state fund affording 50 billion dollars for investments. The State Azeri firm Socar is expected to submit an offer for DESFA.
The main areas of cooperation are tourism, agricultural development and culture. The Minister in charge of agricultural growth Tsaftaris will be visiting Baku in the near future in order to sign a deal. The Azeri side has requested that Greece help improve relations with the EU.
