Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-04-28

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greek foreign minister on goals of Baku trip

[01] Greek foreign minister on goals of Baku trip

Avramopoulos will begin a two-day official visit to Baku starting Monday.

Among others, he noted, the trip will also serve to enrich the Greek presidency's programme and help upgrade EU relations with other countries.

The minister said his main focus, however, will be on two predominantly bilateral issues: energy cooperation and tourism.

"Greece is one of the closest and most easily accessible entry portals to European markets for Azerbaijan," Avramopoulos pointed out in the interview, noting that Azerbaijan already exported natural gas to Greece via Turkey and that Athens wishes to expand bilateral cooperation via the TAP pipeline.

"The construction of the pipelines that will transport Azeri natural gas to European markets via Greece, Albania and Italy - at the same time supplying gas to the Southeastern European markets along its route - is a major project that will benefit all involved and their people," Avramopoulos said.

He noted that Greece, Italy and Albania had already signed the agreement but the crucial decision now lay with the companies.

Replying to questions regarding tourism, Avramopoulos pointed out that bilateral cooperation between the two countries began eight years ago and he underlined the importance of the direct flights to be introduced by Aegean Airlines from May 28.

He said that Greek consular authorities had been given instructions to facilitate the issue of visas and noted that tourism was Greece's second largest industry after shipping, so that Greek knowhow could help Azerbaijan better exploit its own rich natural resources as a tourism destination.

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