Baku, November 23, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Philippines Maria Elena Algabre.

Ambassador Maria Elena Algabre conveyed the greetings of Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the people of the Philippines to the head of state. She noted that the President of the Philippines wants to expand relations between the two countries.

The ambassador presented her credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.

President Ilham Aliyev spoke with the ambassador.

The head of state thanked for the greetings of the Philippine President, and asked the ambassador to extend his greetings to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the people of the Philippines.

President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is also interested in expanding cooperation with the Philippines, including trade relations. The head of state thanked the Philippines for its support in extending Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement until 2023, and for Azerbaijan`s initiatives within the organization, especially the equitable distribution of vaccines. President Ilham Aliyev underlined that Azerbaijan`s position as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement has always been to protect interests of the member countries and strengthen relations. Touching upon the bilateral ties, the head of state stressed the importance of intensifying ties in political and economic areas and establishing economic and trade relations, and expressed hope that during her tenure Maria Elena Algabre would contribute to the strengthening of relationship between the two countries.

Ambassador Maria Elena Algabre first congratulated President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan on the Victory Day and the restoration of territorial integrity, as well as the National Revival Day.

Maria Elena Algabre said that during her tenure she would spare no effort to develop political and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Philippines both in bilateral and multilateral formats, as well as people-to-people contacts.

The ambassador touched upon the importance of an online Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group and a special session of the UN General Assembly in response to COVID-19 held on the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan, and a resolution on COVID-19 and vaccines recently adopted by the UN General Assembly. Maria Elena Algabre also highlighted the successful model of economic development of Azerbaijan, noting that these achievements of the country are reflected in the reports of international organizations as a progressive example.