Norway Has Good Relations with Azerbaijan, Supports Peaceful Solution to Karabakh Conflict

Norway believes that regional disputes must be solved through peaceful means, through diplomacy, and through political efforts, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, responding to a question by a journalist in Yerevan today as to how Norway relates to “Azerbaijan’s policy of inciting war”.

“And we support every initiative which is taken between countries but also in broader settings, concerning, for example, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the work of the Minsk Group, and the efforts of the international community to support the parties to reach peaceful conclusions,” he said.

Støre pointed out that Norway has a “long-standing and good” relationship with Azerbaijan — in terms of not only diplomatic but also economic relations.

Norwegian oil companies “take part in the extraction of gas resources in the Caspian Sea on the shelf of Azerbaijan. This is the responsibility of the Norwegian energy companies… And the Norwegian government expects that any Norwegian company that operates abroad operates according to not only the rules and standards of the country in question but also in accordance with fundamental international standards. And I’ve no reason to doubt that Norwegian companies do that in Azerbaijan,” he said.

Photo: The Jerusalem Post