Baku, August 16, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has accepted credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan Gurbanmamet Elyasov.

Ambassador Gurbanmamet Elyasov, who presented his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev, said: Dear Mr. President, I consider it a great honor to present to you today the credentials on my appointment as ambassador of Turkmenistan to the Republic of Azerbaijan and the letter on the recall of the previous ambassador.

Welcoming the ambassador, President Ilham Aliyev said: You are welcome! I am glad to see you. I have just been told that you speak the Azerbaijani language very well and we will speak in Azerbaijani. This is a factor that adds satisfaction. Our languages are similar, but at the same time, there are differences. This is why, of course, we are very happy that you have learned the Azerbaijani language. This, of course, will allow you the opportunity to establish broader contacts in Azerbaijan.

As you may know, the relations between our countries are at a very high level. These relations were established on the basis of the will of our peoples. In recent years, both reciprocal visits and the agreements reached have raised Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan relations to an even higher level. As you may also know, my recent visit to Turkmenistan and my meetings with the newly elected President and the Chairman of the People's Council Chamber of the National Assembly were further evidence of our brotherhood and, at the same time, those meetings were calculated for future cooperation. We act successfully as two brotherly countries in all areas, we support each other at the international level, bilaterally or multilaterally. Recently, we have been seeing new results in the economy, trade, energy, transport, humanitarian and other fields. This makes us very happy. I want to say again that this high-level multifaceted cooperation is based on historical roots.

I am sure that from now on the Azerbaijani and Turkmen peoples will go shoulder to shoulder as two brotherly peoples and successfully fulfill all the tasks ahead of them. There is only the Caspian Sea between us, but the Caspian Sea is now the sea that connects countries. The protection of the environmental balance and natural resources of the Caspian Sea is, of course, one of the main tasks for all Caspian littoral countries. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have contributed a lot to these issues.

In addition to all political, economic, energy, and transportation issues, our peoples are bound together by a common history, traditions, language, religion, and customs. This is a very powerful factor. In other words, this is the factor that binds our nations together. Of course, people-to-people contacts have a special place in the relations between the two states.

I am sure that you will work as an active ambassador in Azerbaijan. The implementation of the tasks set by the two presidents will allow our cooperation the opportunity to become even more diverse and result-oriented.

I believe that the implementation of the agreements reached will usher ample opportunities. Because we are at a very important stage of cooperation now. However, the possibilities of the two countries have not yet been fully realized – I mean the format of bilateral cooperation. Therefore, the implementation of the agreements reached will in turn lead to new steps.

I wish you the best of luck. I am sure you will feel at home here.

Ambassador Gurbanmamet Elyasov said: Thank you very much, Mr. President. First of all, I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to receive me.

Please allow me to convey to you the sincere greetings and best wishes on behalf of Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the honorable President of Turkmenistan, as well as the Chairman of the People's Council Chamber of the National Assembly of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

Dear Mr. President, as you know, it is a great honor for me to be appointed ambassador to the state of Azerbaijan, which is bound with Turkmenistan by the deep historical roots of friendship and brotherhood, language, religion, spiritual and cultural values inherited from our ancestors. I am pleased to meet you today. Taking into account the fact that our ancestors lived side by side as friends and brothers, our relations can be evaluated as centuries-old relations. Turkmenistan particularly values the good relations with its neighbors and attaches special importance to relations with brotherly Azerbaijan. As is known, these relations are also of a strategic nature. The reciprocal visits, signed documents in different fields, as well as many implemented projects have played an important role in the expansion of our cooperation. Mutually beneficial work has been done in the political and economic fields. Beneficial work has been carried out in political, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields. We are proud of these achievements.

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The head of state expressed his gratitude for the greetings and good wishes of President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Chairman of the People's Council Chamber of the National Assembly of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and asked the ambassador to convey his greetings to Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.