Baku, February 27, AZERTAC

Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Umaro Sissoco Embaló, President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, made press statements.

The President of Azerbaijan made the statement first.

Statement by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. President, my dear brother,

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome, my dear brother, and welcome back. I have very good memories of your last visit in November to attend the COP29 conference. I invited Mr. President to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan, and I'm glad that he accepted my invitation. So, today, the President is visiting us for the second time. This is a good demonstration of the close brotherly relations between our countries and demonstrates that we really work together as brothers and friends, and we will continue to do so.

This trip is a historic visit. For the first time, the President of Guinea-Bissau is visiting us on an official visit. We have already discussed important issues on our bilateral agenda and agreed to strengthen our efforts to develop partnership in all areas. Political relations are very good, and again, I'd like to say that the best indication of this is the President’s second visit. We always support each other within international organizations and will continue to do so, primarily in the United Nations and other institutions like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement.

On the economic track, we agreed that we would be provided with concrete projects of investment opportunities, and we will review them. I'm sure we will find common ground on that because we are already investing in many countries. Of course, we would be glad to have the opportunity to look at the concrete projects. We also think that there is a good opportunity to cooperate in the areas of defense industry and defense. During the trip, Mr. President will visit one of the military units of Azerbaijan, and there will also be a presentation about defense industry of Azerbaijan, which may be of interest to our friends.

So, now the agenda is broad. The most important thing is our close brotherly relations, mutual support in international institutions, and concrete projects. We want to implement them because political relations are a platform for that.

I hope, my dear brother, that you will visit us again. Mr. President also invited me to visit his country. With pleasure, I will do so to continue our fruitful dialogue. So, once again, welcome.

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Then, the President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau made the statement.

Statement by President Umaro Sissoco Embaló

- Thank you very much, my dear brother, President Aliyev.

It is a pleasure to be here in Baku today and to renew our relationship. I remember that many of our technical people studied here during the time of the Soviet Union. Tomorrow, the first team will arrive here for training in the army and police. This is very important for us.

We are here today to renew our cooperation in many areas, including health, education, the military, and security. We are confident that this visit will not only be an opportunity to meet with you but will also be beneficial for our two countries.

Mr. President, Guinea-Bissau and Azerbaijan are two friendly countries, and we share some common ideologies. That is why we are consulting on important matters in the United Nations and the OIC, of which we are both members.

In our tête-à-tête, we discussed many international issues and agreed to support each other. I think this is very important. This gives us the target to work together, hand in hand, to see how we can bring our two countries closer.

Thank you, Mr. President.

President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you very much.