POLITICS
Deputy FM: Afghanistan supports initiative by President Ilham Aliyev on declaring 2017 as Year of Islamic Solidarity
Baku, March 18, AZERTAC
“Afghanistan fully supports the initiative by President Ilham Aliyev on declaring 2017 as a Year of Islamic Solidarity,” said Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hekmat Khalil Karzai as he met with Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku.
They praised the development of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan. It was mentioned that high-level bilateral dialogue between leaders of both countries and in this regard the meeting of President of Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference gives further impetus to advancing the bilateral ties.
FM Mammadyarov noted that Azerbaijan has undertaken the co-chairmanship of “Heart of Asia- Istanbul Process” for the year of 2017 and expressed his conviction that Senior Officials Meeting of participating states of “Istanbul Process” to be held in Baku on March 17 will contribute to this initiative.
Deputy FM Hekmat Karzai stressed the importance of the Istanbul Process for his country and highly appreciated Azerbaijan’s co-chairmanship of Istanbul Process for the year of 2017.
Hekmat Karzai emphasized that Afghanistan always supports the just position of Azerbaijan on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He added that athletes of his country will take an active part in the Islamic Solidarity Games.
In addition, the contribution of Azerbaijan to NATO’s Resolute Support Mission was also praised.
At the meeting the ministers exchanged their views on the ways of enhancing bilateral legal based- treaty framework and development of cooperation in the transport, education and science, training and other fields of mutual interest.