"We will strive to implement our plans with Azerbaijan; what we say will not remain just words."
On April 27, during his official visit to Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš, gave an interview to the APA Information Agency, Azerbaijan Television, and APA TV.
APA presents the interview:
It is a great honor for me to be in Azerbaijan
– Mr. Prime Minister, first of all, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Your decision to visit Azerbaijan as your first destination after the European Union countries is of particular significance. How would you assess the current state of bilateral relations between the Czech Republic and Azerbaijan, as well as their medium and long-term development prospects?
– Thank you very much for your warm words. It is a big honor for me to be here because I met your great President Ilham Aliyev in Budapest, and then we met in Davos, and this is the third time we are meeting here. We spent half a day together, and it is unbelievable how Azerbaijan is an important country, how strategic a country you are for the Czech Republic, but also for the other leaders. President Zelensky was here, the President of Latvia was here, and Giorgia Meloni is coming. Your President is very active internationally, and I have a very friendly relationship with him, and we have discussed very concrete cooperation.
I know that everyone is interested in Azerbaijani gas
Azerbaijan is the first supplier of crude oil to the Czech Republic. You are supplying 42% of our consumption. We came here to ask, and I know everybody is asking for your natural gas, which is also very important for us, and we were here with our state company ČEZ, which would like to buy your natural gas for the long term. I know everybody is asking for it, but maybe we can find a different approach and try to invest on both sides. So this is the first point.
Europe is suffering because of this stupid Green Deal, which is destroying European industry. And of course, now, because of the situation in Hormuz, it is very important for us. And then, of course, we came here with our defense companies. The Czechoslovak Group is already here.
We came here with the producer of rifles, assault rifles, Colt, and Aero Vodochody, which is proposing the L-39NG, and also with the state-owned company Explosia. All these defense companies are proposing joint ventures and cooperation, and we already have concrete business, but we can do much more.
Then we are also trying to get a contract for the Baku underground and for trams. We have ŠKODA Transportation, which is from the biggest economic group, PPF, in the Czech Republic. And you know, Czechoslovakia was, in the past, from 1918 up to the Second World War, among the ten most industrialized countries in the world. So we have a lot of things to propose.
And your President proposed that economic groups work on all these possibilities. And we upgraded this to the level of ministers. So on our side it will be Karel Havlíček, the First Deputy Prime Minister, and on your side, it will be the Minister of Energy. I have invited your President to our country, so we will be honored if he can come.
We discussed investment opportunities in the airport in Karlovy Vary
– At the beginning of this year, you met the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, at the Davos Economic Forum, and today you held talks in Gabala. After these meetings, what are the prospects for activating relations at a high level? Can we expect further intensification of high-level mutual visits and contacts between the two countries?
– Definitely. We have agreed that my First Vice Minister will come again to Azerbaijan this year. And I forgot to tell all Azerbaijani citizens that we have discussed the possibility of how to invest in the airport in Karlovy Vary, and I know that a lot of people from Azerbaijan and Central Asia love to come to Karlovy Vary for the spa. We already have some investors there from Azerbaijan, and with this investment on our side, we would like to intensify tourism, because if we do this, then it will be easier for aircraft to land. And of course, we are also building, with delay, a highway from Prague to Karlovy Vary, but it will also take time. So we are also taking these measures to welcome your people to come and visit our country.
There are many topics to be discussed, and we have developed very good personal relations with the President of Azerbaijan.
– You mentioned defense, transport, agriculture, and tourism as priority areas at the business forum. Can you elaborate on the importance of these areas? Also, how do you assess the role of the Intergovernmental Commission?
– We hope that this commission will come together as soon as possible. And of course, we have to speak about the problems of all countries in the world, and of course, every country has to feed its people, and for this, we need food production. Also, in this field, we can maybe cooperate, and also in healthcare.
I said to your President that we are a new government, we have been in position for only a few months, that we invest a lot in the prevention of cancer, in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, and in the mental health of our children, the social safety net, and so on. So there are a lot of topics to discuss among us.
And I think we have a very good personal contact with your President, we understand each other, and also our teams are working. We had a very good discussion in Davos, so now we continue, and I hope to welcome your President. I have also invited his wife to our country. The Czech Republic is a beautiful country, you have a beautiful country, so we have a lot of things to do together.
– How do you assess the role of the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership signed in 2015?
– We have to improve it, we have to speed up. And you know, my theory – you know what is the most important in life? Do you know it? No. I will tell you: to transform speeches and words into reality. And this is sometimes difficult, but I know how to do it. And I will push for it. What we say will not remain just words; it will turn into real projects.
We support increasing alternative supply sources
– What are your views on cooperation in the energy sector, particularly regarding renewable energy?
– Europe is speaking only about renewable energy, but from windmills and solar energy, you cannot produce polystyrene, asphalt, or sulphur. You can do it from crude oil or gas. And Europe is sleeping, and we have had two days of the European Council in Cyprus, and the Czech Republic is very active in how to help the European industry to survive, because if we pay the highest energy prices in Europe, then European companies will move to other markets like the United States. We have competition from other countries, and this is bad, and also we cannot be only in the hands of two gas suppliers, which practically have a more or less dominant position, like Norway, which made so much money, so for us it is very important to have some competition and to have the same energy prices for gas and crude oil as other competitors in the world.
So this is the issue, but unfortunately, Europe has understood it with some delay, like in the case of illegal migration, and now also with energy, they do not really hear what we are saying. The Czech Republic is very active, I have sent four letters, very concrete letters, and we will fight for this. And we are saying that suppliers outside of Europe cannot be handicapped by some measures or directives of European bureaucrats.
Azerbaijan is a strategic country in terms of access to Central Asia
– In which areas outside the energy sector is the cooperation potential greater?
– Central Asia, the countries there are really very important for us. As I said, Azerbaijan is a strategic country for us, and Czech exports are about 80 percent to EU countries, and we need to enlarge our markets, and the new markets are here. Tomorrow we are flying to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and I remember when I started to be a trader after university, I cooperated with all these countries in the past.
So we have long-term relations, and people know our trademarks. And now we are here again, and we are sure that we can really increase the exchange of goods significantly, not only in energy but also in other areas, which I mentioned.
The normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia pleases us
– How do you assess the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
– We are happy about this, and it is good that the relationship has now become more normal. And I know that President Trump has some initiatives, and we hope that this will help. We are pleased that after some time, these relations are slowly becoming normal and that there is less tension in the region.
We intend to explore investment opportunities in the liberated territories
– Is it possible for Czech companies to participate in “smart city” and “smart village” projects in the liberated territories?
– I confirmed this to your President, because you know we have the same friend, Viktor Orbán, who is very close to me and to your President, and Hungary has become an observer country in the OTS. And of course we are ready to discuss this, and we are ready to look into it and try to be here and invest in this territory.
– Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. It was a great honor for us to hear your views. We wish you success.
– Thank you very much. I wish the people of Azerbaijan a lot of success, luck, and health. And of course we are sure that our people have a friendly relationship, and your people are welcome in our country, and we are looking forward to our cooperation.
Photo - Rufat Mustafayev © APAGROUP
