Baku, November 12, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri.

Welcoming the delegation, President Ilham Aliyev, said:

- Welcome! Pleased to see you again.

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri said:

- I am very pleased to be here. We feel at home here.

President Ilham Aliyev: Right. I hope that your visit is useful, successful and fruitful. A meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission will be held tomorrow. I hope that it is successful, as the scope of our activities is expanding.

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri: Exactly.

President Ilham Aliyev: Our relations are developing in a positive way. Political ties are very strong. There is a great understanding and mutual support between us. I was also very pleased to see your Minister of Foreign Affairs attending the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. Thank you for your contribution to this important event. As you know, Azerbaijan is currently chairing this authoritative organization. We will be responsible for that for three years. Of course, we will support friendly countries. We have excellent mutual support in international organizations. We always support each other. There are good results in our turnover. Of course, tourism is growing - now in both directions.

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri: Yes, great.

President Ilham Aliyev: More and more citizens of the United Arab Emirates are visiting our country and, of course, Azerbaijani citizens are happy to visit your wonderful country. I am sure that the commission will outline new areas of cooperation, take actions to step up cooperation in traditional areas, and we will strengthen our friendship.

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri: Mr. President, thank you for receiving us. I know that you are one of the greatest friends of the United Arab Emirates. I want to convey to you greetings from the President of the United Arab Emirates, His Excellency Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and from your brother Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Mr. President, as you know, Azerbaijan occupies a special place in our soul. When we meet, we immediately feel that. I was looking around on the way from the airport to the hotel. Amazing changes have taken place in Azerbaijan. Your Excellency, another matter is that we are very committed to economic ties between the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked for the greetings of President of the United Arab Emirates His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and asked the minister to extend his greetings to President of the United Arab Emirates and Vice President and Prime Minister of the country.

The sides hailed the importance of dynamic development of economic relations between the two countries, and discussed the issues relating to cooperation prospects in investment making, transport and other fields. They expressed their confidence that the next meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for economic, trade and technical cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates to be held in Baku tomorrow would contribute to further expansion of this cooperation.