Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Berlin on Tuesday for his first state visit to Germany, with energy security and the Middle Corridor trade route at the top of the agenda as Europe continues to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
Aliyev met Chancellor Friedrich Merz for bilateral talks before a wider meeting with cabinet ministers.
The two sides signed a joint declaration on a strategic partnership and a series of agreements covering energy, transport, infrastructure, trade and investment, and science and technology — with Germany becoming the second European country after Italy to sign the same agreement with Azerbaijan. A joint business forum ran alongside the talks.
“I would like to express my gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev,” Merz said. “You are creating an opportunity for us to receive larger volumes of gas from Azerbaijan. This issue is also reflected in the Joint Declaration that we signed today.”
“Azerbaijan can supply the required volume of oil,” Aliyev said. “This can be done both through domestic sources and through the trading division of SOCAR.”
