Baku, October 14, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

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

- Dear Sooronbai Sharipovich!

I am glad to welcome you on Azerbaijani soil. We met at the CIS Summit a few days ago. Today we are hosting you in Azerbaijan. I am very glad that you are visiting us!

We will have the summit tomorrow, but today there is a good opportunity to see and discuss the prospects of our bilateral relations. We already discussed these issues last year, when Kyrgyzstan hosted the Summit of the Heads of State of the Turkic Council, and then we discussed a wide range of bilateral issues. I remember that it was a very productive conversation. Today we will continue our dialogue. I am sure that within the framework of today's meeting we will discuss important issues of further cooperation in the political sphere, in the economic, humanitarian and all other areas.

For us, Kyrgyzstan is a brotherly country, a good friend and partner. I am sure that our ties will only be strengthened in the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for the very effective chairmanship of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan takes over the baton from Kyrgyzstan, and with these good practices we will also try to ensure that solidarity between our countries and mutual support grow with every year and we fill our cooperation with real content. I am sure that your visit will be very fruitful and successful, and you will get to know Azerbaijan a little. So welcome again! I wish you all the best.

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President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov said:

- Thank you very much for your kind words, dear Ilham Heydarovich. I am very pleased to meet with you. It is a great pleasure to meet with you in the city of Baku, on the sidelines of the seventh summit of the Turkic Council. This is an anniversary and historic event, and we are confident that it will be held at a very high level.

I want to emphasize that thanks to your political will a successful meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission has recently taken place, where your First Deputy Prime Minister participated on your behalf. I also received First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyyubov. He is a very interesting, experienced and reliable person. We discussed many issues for a long time. I am sure that this meeting will give an impetus to our bilateral relations, especially trade and economic relations.

Recently, your daughter Leyla Aliyeva was our guest, and she left a very good impression on our people. She participated in the forum of Olympic committees. She presented me a book, a collection of poems, and she has written a poem about Issyk-Kul. She is a very sincere and talented girl. May God grant her good health!

And as you know, we also attach great importance to the development of our bilateral relations. As you said, we are a fraternal, friendly country, and we always value our relations, we always strive for our relations to develop confidently, actively and on mutually beneficial terms. Thank you again for the warm welcome and for the hospitality our friends showed us at the airport. We really felt the warmth of our friends – the Azerbaijanis. Thank you so much!

The sides also noted that a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission had recently been held in Bishkek. Prospects for cooperation in the economic, trade and other fields were also discussed.