Baku, February 16, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia Hildi Hamid.

Presenting her credentials to President Ilham Aliyev, Ambassador Hildi Hamid said:

- Your Excellency President Ilham Aliyev. I am honored to present to you the credentials of my appointment as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to the Republic of Azerbaijan and the letter on the recall of my predecessor. Allow me also to convey to you the sincere greetings on behalf of President Joko Widodo, the Government and people of Indonesia. President Joko Widodo wants to develop stronger cooperation and bilateral ties between Indonesia and Azerbaijan, especially in the economic sphere. Thank you.

Welcoming the ambassador, President Ilham Aliyev said:

-Welcome Mr. Ambassador. I am very glad to see you. Please, also convey my best greetings to Mr. President Joko Widodo. I am looking forward to seeing rapid development in our cooperation. As you mentioned, in economic area we have a big potential to find very important areas of our partnership and strong political ties will, of course, be very helpful in expanding our cooperation to different spheres. On political ground, we cooperate very successfully. We support each other in international organizations, in the United Nations. Of course, we coordinate our efforts in the Non-Aligned Movement and we are very grateful for the support Indonesia demonstrated to our initiatives in the Non-Aligned Movement. As you know, when we assumed this honorable mission of chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement, I said that Azerbaijan will in its actions, in its steps defend international law and justice. We are particularly grateful for a continuous support demonstrated by Indonesia to Azerbaijan during the years of occupation. Indonesia always joined supportive resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and also the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Non-Aligned Movement supporting the just cause of Azerbaijan. That was demonstrated throughout many years and it strengthened our position and strengthened the process of creation of very solid legal base for settlement of the conflict. During the conflict, your government expressed support to Azerbaijan. We highly value that. Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in support of the implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions which demanded immediate, unconditional and full withdrawal of Armenian occupational forces from the territories of Azerbaijan. So, we are very grateful for that, also the parliament of your country. Many members of parliament expressed solidarity with Azerbaijan-support. All that is known by Azerbaijani people and is highly appreciated by the government of Azerbaijan. Indonesia was among other members of the Non-Aligned Movement during the discussions in the United Nations which strongly supported our position during the time of the war. As you know, some members of Security Council wanted to start process of adopting new resolutions and decisions. And actually, that was an attempt to stop us from just cause of liberation of the territories. And those attempts and wording of those planned steps did not embrace the reference to the Security Council resolutions which was adopted by the countries, members of the Security Council. So, Indonesia together with other friendly countries, members of the Non-Aligned Movement actually blocked this attempt to stop us from restoration of our territorial integrity, and we highly value that. We are grateful for that. This is a demonstration of solidarity, support and friendship. So, this is a political basis of our cooperation. We need now to look forward. After Azerbaijan liberated its territories and restored its territorial integrity, there are big opportunities for economic cooperation. Also, on the liberated lands we want to see the Indonesian companies as our partners, as contractors to implement different projects which we plan, and demonstrate our unity. That’s our plan. I wish you a pleasant stay, very active work. Because a lot is to be done in order to bring our countries closer on economic track and I am sure that we will see a good progress during the time of your presence in Azerbaijan.

Ambassador Hildi Hamid: Your Excellency, thank you for the attention you are paying to the relations with Indonesia. Your Excellency Mr. President, I am honored to be appointed as ambassador of Indonesia to Azerbaijan, and I fully understand the responsibility of my position. During my tenure as ambassador, I will strive to deepen our friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation, improve mutual understanding and friendship between the governments and peoples of both countries. I will do my best to elevate the relations between Indonesia and Azerbaijan to a higher level, so that cooperation between our countries can continue with the full support of Your Excellency and your government. I wish the Republic of Azerbaijan development and the people of Azerbaijan prosperity.