President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received at the residential Palace Founder Patron of the Genesis Initiative, member of the British Royal family, His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent on February 18.

Sincerely welcoming the esteemed guest, the Head of the Azerbaijan State let him know that he had detailed information on the course of the visit and meetings held, and said it would contribute to development of Azerbaijan-Britain relations.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed his satisfaction with the high level of political and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Britain, his confidence that the bilateral links would be developed in other spheres, as well as. He noted that as the new independent state Azerbaijan considers development of democracy and integration into European structure as one of its political priorities. The president stressed the country is now successfully realizing large-scale energy projects, and pointed out the active involvement of British companies in this sphere. “It is not accidental that they left other countries’ companies behind in making investments in the economy of Azerbaijan,” he said.

The President of Azerbaijan updated the guest in detail on the political and economic reforms being carried out in the country, and pointed out the particular attention he paid to development of non-oil sector. The Head of State noted that no discrepancies have taken place between the Government of Azerbaijan and companies including BP for the years of the large-scale projects implementation. “Favorable investment opportunities created in the Republic allowed the international financial structures and large-scale banks to make huge investments in realization of the energy projects in the country,” he said.

President Ilham Aliyev pointed out the great importance of the activity of Genesis Initiative for development of SME sector, and underlined the necessity of studying experience of British businesspersons in Azerbaijan.

Touching upon the existence of over one million refugees from the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev described the situation as a “large-scale humanitarian catastrophe.” Pointing out the international humanitarian organizations aid to the refugees, he, at the same time, urged the international community to exert pressure upon the aggressor for the people to return to their native lands.

Prince Michael provided the Head of State with comprehensive information of the meeting he had had during the visit, and expressed satisfaction with the activity of the British companies with emphasis on BP. He said he had visited one of the Baku hospitals to render assistance in the frameworks of his charitable activity.

The guest pointed out the importance of small and medium entrepreneurship development for the economy of any country, and stressed his organization was ready to render technical assistance to Azerbaijani businessmen.

Prince Michael mentioned that beautiful nature of Azerbaijan and hospitality of the people condition wide opportunities for development of tourism industry in the country.

Prince Michael expressed his gratitude to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the warm meeting and hospitality.

Afterwards, a wide-range opinions exchange on a number of issues related to the development of Azerbaijan-Britain relationship was held.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Youth, Sports and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev, Ambassador of Azerbaijan in London Rafael Ibrahimov, Ambassador of the UK to Azerbaijan Laurence Bristow.