On 3 December, President of Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by the defense secretary of the United States Mr. Donald Ramsfeld

Warmly greeting the guests, head of the Azerbaijani state said:

- Dear Mr. Secretary, dear guests,

I cordially welcome all of you here in Azerbaijan. And You are welcome to our country.

It is already the second visit of you in the last two years, it shows the high level of the relations existing between our two countries, and it shows that the relations are developing very rapidly. Truly, the relations between the United States and Azerbaijan cover all areas, political area, and economy, energy, and of course military area, and we are cooperating very successfully in all these fields.

Right after September 11 tragic events in New York city, Azerbaijan expressed its readiness to support the United States, and ever since we are in the same coalition, and we continue to remain in the same coalition, and we are aimed to develop the cooperation between two countries and I would like to express my hope that these relations would be continued.

The United States is a friendly country for Azerbaijan, and as Mr. Bush, President of the United States stressed in his letter sent to me, Azerbaijan is also a friendly country for the United States and we attach a great importance for this step. The United States is a strategic partner for Azerbaijan and this strategic partnership had been initiated by the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev back in 1993 and this policy will be continued during my tenure.

Once again, Mr. Secretary, I would like to welcome You and I would like to express my hope that after this meeting of ours, the relations, the cooperation in military area, will be grown.

Expressing his gratitude to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, for cordial reception, Donald Ramsfeld said:

- Thank You very much, Mr. President, and my congratulations to You on Your election. I understand that your father is feeling well and I hope very well treated in Cleveland.

I appreciate having the opportunity from backing to visit Your country and we do value this particular relations between our countries. And we truly attach great importance to the existent strategic cooperation between our countries. And, we already had meetings with your minister in Brussels, where he was also attending the discussions of the issue related to participation of Azerbaijan in the NATO PfP Program. We were able to meet this afternoon and talk about the military relationship, which I use to suggest, as You noted, is strengthening and broadening.

So, I appreciate Your giving me an opportunity to meet with You again.

The reception was joined by defense minister of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev, ambassador of Azerbaijan Republic to the United States, the US ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish.