Baku, April 12, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Rashid Alimov.

Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Rashid Alimov congratulated the head of state on his landslide victory in the presidential election with strong support of the Azerbaijani people, and extended his gratitude for invitation to monitor the voting. Highlighting the importance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Rashid Alimov said the population of its member states exceeds three billion people, while their territory covers two thirds of the area of the Asian continent. He said the organization maintains successful cooperation with its dialogue partner Azerbaijan. He said that for the first time in its history the Shanghai Cooperation Organization sent an election observation mission to a dialogue partner country. Describing this as a sign of developing cooperation between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Azerbaijan, Rashid Alimov said they welcome this relationship. He said the SCO mission included representatives from all member states of the organization, adding that they started operating in Azerbaijan a week ago. Rashid Alimov said the mission freely conducted monitoring in the polling stations in the regions, which makes seven percent of the total number of the polling stations across the country. He said work in the polling stations was excellently organized in compliance with Azerbaijan`s legislation. Rashid Alimov said they were provided with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with any document in polling stations, adding that the voting was open and transparent. Hailing professionalism of members of election commissions, Rashid Alimov said they devoted attention to representatives of all layers of society in polling stations. He said that representatives of other observation missions also noted that they did not register any serious irregularities in polling stations. Rashid Alimov said the SCO mission monitored the voting in nearly 400 polling stations, adding that the presidential election was conducted in an open, democratic, transparent fashion. He once again congratulated the President of Azerbaijan on his landslide victory: “We wish you and the friendly people of Azerbaijan success and prosperity. Azerbaijan is developing, you personally care about well-being of every citizen of Azerbaijan. Our conversations with voters once again demonstrated that people see you as the guarantor of their future.”

Expressing his gratitude for warm words, President llham Aliyev hailed close cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The head of state said Azerbaijan maintains constructive, friendly relations with all member states of SCO, adding that these relations are based on common history and interests. The President said Azerbaijan considers SCO as an organization that plays a pivotal role on the international area, and hailed its contribution to the establishment of stability around the world. The head of state noted the importance of the fact that SCO sent its first observation mission to Azerbaijan, describing this as a sign of the organization`s relationship with the country and at the same time as a sign of good prospects of relations. President llham Aliyev said Azerbaijan is eager to strengthen its ties with SCO and is interested in participating in a number of the organization`s projects. The head of state said SCO`s relations with member states contribute to the establishment of a common cooperation platform, adding that development of cooperation with these countries is one of Azerbaijan`s key foreign policy priorities.

Thanking the SCO mission for praising the election, President llham Aliyev said great job was carried out to ensure that the election take place in a maximum transparent, democratic fashion and that the people of Azerbaijan fully express their will. The head of state noted that the election campaign was free and constructive, describing this as dominance of political culture in the Azerbaijani society. The President said all candidates were provided with equal opportunities throughout the campaign. President llham Aliyev said the results of the election show that the Azerbaijani people recognize the work done in the past few years. The head of state said this contributes to Azerbaijan`s strengthening and development as an independent state.