Baku, November 18, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Qatar Faisal bin Abdullah Hamad Abdullah Al Henzab.

Ambassador Faisal bin Abdullah Hamad Abdullah Al Henzab reviewed a guard of honor.

Presenting his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev, Faisal bin Abdullah Hamad Abdullah Al Henzab said:

- Mr. President, it is a great honor for me to present my credentials in connection with my appointment as Ambassador to the fraternal and friendly Republic of Azerbaijan and a letter on the recall of my predecessor. I will make every effort to develop our bilateral relations in full accordance with your views. Thank you very much.

President Ilham Aliyev then had a conversation with the ambassador.

President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Welcome! I am pleased to see you. I wish you a good time in our country. I am sure that during your work in Azerbaijan the successful development of the relations between our countries will be continued. We have very good political relations. Both sides regard these relations as relations between fraternal countries. And this is true. I am convinced that we will see great progress in the political, economic and other fields. Our countries actively cooperate in the international arena. There have been mutual official visits at the level of heads of state. We have intergovernmental activities. Mutual visits have been paid at the ministerial level. Therefore, I am sure that there will be many opportunities to focus on the traditional areas of our cooperation and identify new areas in the future.

I believe that special attention should be paid to the issue of trade. I think there is potential for increasing trade in both directions, because we can offer more to each other now. I am glad that the number of tourists from your country is growing, and this is a good sign of our cooperation. As you know, there is no visa requirement for your citizens, and I am sure that we will see an increase in the number of tourists in both directions.

Another potential area for cooperation is investment. I know that your country, like Azerbaijan, invests abroad, we can find areas for joint investment projects. Therefore, there will be many areas to focus on. I am sure that during the period of activity in Azerbaijan you will work hard on strengthening our ties.

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Ambassador Faisal bin Abdullah Hamad Abdullah Al Henzab said:

- Thank you, Your Excellency. Mr. President, I am honored to be here, to meet with you and to present my credentials. Please let me convey to you the greetings of the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, his wishes for even greater success, well-being and progress to your people. On coming here, we have witnessed comprehensive development, and I say this to everyone I meet. We fell in love with your country at first sight. I happened to participate in the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement and observe the Summit of religious leaders. Your Excellency, I congratulate you, your government and people on the successful hosting of these two summits. This gives us the impression that Azerbaijan is a country with its own authority on the world map, is on the right track and acts as the organizer of various events. And this is a political tool for Azerbaijan. Of course, we have excellent relations. I have personally been instructed to work hard to develop these relations in all directions.

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President Ilham Aliyev thanked for the greetings of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and asked the ambassador to extend his greetings to the Emir of the State of Qatar.