Israeli FM: Azerbaijan can mediate between Israel and Arab world

Israel respects the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and believes that the solution to any conflict must be found through direct negotiations, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is on an official visit in Azerbaijan, said in an interview with Trend on Monday.

"This is our main conclusion from the situation between us and the Palestinians. I think this is the main conclusion from all that is happening here in the region [in the South Caucasus]," Lieberman said.

The Foreign minister noted that at the same time Israel believes Azerbaijan could try to mediate between Israel and the Arab world.

"We would like to see Azerbaijan more active in this direction - Israel, Palestine, the Arab world, as Azerbaijan maintains very good and close relations with most countries in the Middle East, including Israel," Lieberman said.

He said the relations between Azerbaijan and Israel are developing very dynamically.

"The trade balance between Israel and Azerbaijan reached $ 4 billion. These is the highest figure among all the CIS countries, including Russia," Lieberman said.

He noted that the two states have very stable and confidential relations at a political level.

"I think our relationship is very intense [...] I believe Azerbaijan in the political aspect has been recognized on the world arena. The fact that Azerbaijan is a member of the UN Security Council, of course, puts it in an entirely different status," the Minister said.

He noted that during the talks in Baku the sides held political consultations on developments in the Security Council, the regular session of the UN General Assembly to be held in September this year, as well as on the situation in the region.

In addition, the parties discussed issues of cooperation in agriculture, medicine, water economy, education, introduction of visa-free regime for holders of diplomatic passports, as well as a number of agreements offered by Israel.

The Foreign Minister of Israel said Baku and Tel Aviv are developing a special economic agreement that would force the effect of all previously signed documents in this area.

Previously, the parties signed agreements in the field of cooperation between tax authorities, customs authorities. Lieberman also noted the successful cooperation in the energy sector.

He said the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel has the legal framework and contractual basis.

Commenting on the previously circulated in the media information concerning the supply by Israel of military equipment to Azerbaijan, Lieberman called it a purposeful information stuffing, which is mainly aimed at discrediting the relations between the countries.

"I think that some of the journalists, who were engaged in the interpretation of all these issues [arms sales], have highly developed imagination, and they could participate in competitions for the best science fiction novel. Others have clearly seen too many James Bond movies and trying to implement this in the field of journalism," Lieberman said.

He stressed all the materials that were published in the press about the supply of arms, are very far from being real.

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It is necessary to expand sanctions against Iran, so that the country would abandon its nuclear ambitions, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is in Azerbaijan on an official visit in Azerbaijan, said in an interview with Trend on Monday.

"It is our official position," the Foreign Minister said.

As Lieberman said, Israel is closely monitoring the situation in Iran and the statements of the country.

"We believe that the international community should be given the opportunity to exhaust the whole negotiation process within the "Iran and 5+1" framework. Sanctions were effective enough, and from our point of view, these sanctions should be expanded in order to force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions," the foreign minister of Israel said.

The P5+1 spearheaded the diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to limit its nuclear program, which Iran say is purely peaceful while UN and Western leaders suspect of military purposes.

So far, The UNSC has adopted four rounds of sanctions, inside of the U.S. and the European Union's tightened sanctions imposed to Iran, intended to halt Iran's nuclear program which is suspected to have military dimensions.

Israel, arguing that a nuclear Iran would pose an existential threat, has said it will not allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon. Fearing that Iran is moving quickly toward nuclear capability, Israel has repeatedly hinted at an attack if Iran's uranium enrichment program continues to advance. Enrichment is a key process in developing weapons, and Israel says Iran is closely approaching a point where it can no longer be stopped.

The US favors diplomacy and economic sanctions and has said military action on Iran's nuclear facilities should only be a last resort if all else fails.


/Trend/