Baku, May 18, AZERTAC

Followıng the official welcome ceremony, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.

Welcoming the Lithuanian President, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:

-Mr. President, welcome to Azerbaijan. I am very glad to see you. Wish you a pleasant stay in our country. I am sure that your visit will contribute significantly to the development of our bilateral ties. We are satisfied with level of cooperation and during your visit there will be different events, including a business forum. There is a big mutual interest between our business circles to engage in some very practical activities. Of course, our political relations, political dialogue, regional situation, are all issues which we will discuss today and I am very really glad that we have an opportunity to meet in Baku. Two years ago we had a meeting via videoconference. I am grateful for that initiative. That was our first acquaintance. Today I am glad to host you. I am sure that you will feel at home in Azerbaijan and will return back with good memories. So, once again welcome and wish you a pleasant stay.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda said: Thank you very much. Thank you for your hospitality and this is a very good opportunity to give additional stimulus to the bilateral relations of our countries. And I hope very much that we will disclose and use this potential which is, of course, in business, which is in other sectors of public life. Of course, the issues which are related to the security situation and region, and cooperation with European Union are critically important too. So, Lithuania was always very keen supporter of a closer dialogue between the Caucasus countries and EU. We are very keen supporter of Eastern Partnership project and we would like to discuss this issue with you too. Bilateral relations, economic relations are important and I am happy to say that I brought the business delegation and they will have a special event, discuss the issues of possible economic cooperation and we will have the opening speeches there if I remember correctly.

The culture and education is also very important, because two rectors of our universities and some other representatives of our universities came to Azerbaijan too in order to find common solutions, joint programs, double programs and to have tighter relations in this field.

I think this is very important that our countries although being at certain distance from each other, the people still remember the cultural ties since 90s. I think this is very god opportunity to, as I mentioned, to give the stimulus which is critically important.