Baku, March 10, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received in a video format Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjarto.

Welcoming the Hungarian Minister, President Ilham Aliyev said:

-Mr. Minister, welcome. Good morning. Very glad to see you. It is good that you are visiting us this time and we have an opportunity to talk to each other. I know that recently a couple of months ago you had an online meeting with your colleague on the Intergovernmental Commission issues. I was informed about that and I think that the things start moving in a right direction. Of course, as strategic partners Hungary and Azerbaijan need to continue active cooperation in various areas. We are grateful for your support in our communications with the European Commission. As you know, we are now in the final stage of the discussions on the new agreement due to the pandemic and war. These discussions obviously were put on hold but absolute majority of the items have been already agreed. So, I am sure that in the coming months there should be more progress. Of course, bilateral agenda is very important and Hungary and Azerbaijan as two friendly countries need to activate cooperation in economic area, area of trade and especially now, after the liberation of the occupied territories a lot of opportunities now with respect to the reconstruction of the territories. It is total devastation. Probably you have seen some video footages of that area, it is total destruction. So, we need to rebuild the area from scratch. It is more than 10,000 square kilometres. It is a big part of Azerbaijan and of course, we want to do it in cooperation with our partners. As many times I already publicly stated, we will invite for cooperation the companies from friendly countries. Hungary is one of them, closest friends of Azerbaijan, and I am sure that there will be a lot of opportunities for Hungarian companies to work together with us on the liberated areas. As well as in other areas. I know that there is a big potential in agriculture, in technologies. We are planning to create a modern infrastructure and city planning on the liberated territories. So, big scope of work and I am sure you will thoroughly discuss it with your colleagues during your visit. Welcome once again.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjarto said:

-Thank you so much for this opportunity to see you live on the screen. You know, Mr. President, that our position has always been that Azerbaijan deserves its sovereignty among its internationally recognized borders which right of Azerbaijan was violated for the last decades. We were among the countries which have not made the secret about this position and we will continue to represent this approach of ours in a very clear and loud manner. You can be sure Mr. President that we will always represent a balanced approach in this regard and we will always say the truth and we will represent our position very openly. I have the homework Mr. President, to say “hi” to you on behalf of the Prime Minister.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked for the greetings of Viktor Orban and asked the minister to extend his greetings to the Hungarian Prime Minister.