AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV RECEIVES FOREIGN MINISTER OF FINLAND ERKKI TUOMOJA
The Azerbaijan’s leader also spoke of the Azerbaijan’s relations with Finland as a European Union member. He noted that Azerbaijan is intensively developing its cooperation with the organization by actively participating, in particular, in the EU’s New Neighborhood Policy. President Ilham Aliyev mentioned as well that the Union shows an increased its interest in the region, and described the appointment of the structure’s special representative for South Caucasus as a vivid evidence of this.
In conclusion, he expressed his confidence that the present visit to Azerbaijan by the Finnish Foreign Minister would promote strengthening of cooperation between the two countries.
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomoja thanked the President for the warm meeting and recalled his previous visit to Azerbaijan ago as a member of the official delegation six years. He expressed admiration for the unprecedented changes occurred in the country since then, noting he didn’t witness in any other country such a rapid development for such a short period.
The Minister described the Finland-Azerbaijan relations as very prospective and expressed confidence in their further development. He said that despite Azerbaijan is located in very sensitive and disputed region, it has turned to the center of stability in the Caucasus.
Touching on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Minister Tuomoja noted both Finland, as the EU’s 10-year active member, and the European Union want the conflict to be peacefully settled as soon as possible.
He also expressed confidence that Azerbaijan will continue to develop its relations with both Finland and the European Union as a whole.
Present at the meeting were Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the President’s Administration Novruz Mammadov and Ambassador of Finland to Azerbaijan Terhi Hakkala.
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