I congratulate you and friendly people of Uzbekistan on the National Holiday of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Independence Day.

For the past years, overcoming all difficulties Uzbekistan has successfully implemented large-scale reforms and gained international prestige. Our independent statehood has created new opportunities for expanding relations between our nations, which have deep historical roots.

I am confident that we will make new contributions to the development of traditionally friendly and cooperative interrelations to justify our people’s hope for peace and stability in our region.

Dear Islam Abduganiyevich, I wish you good health, every success in your activity, and peasce and prosperity to the friendly Uzbek people.

Sincerely yours,

Heydar Aliyev,

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

August 26, 2003

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MR. MUAMMAR QADHAFI LEADER OF THE REVOLUTION LIBYA HEAD OF SOCIALIST PEOPLE'S LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA

Dear Leader, I extend my cordial congratulations to you and your people on the national holiday of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the Revolution Day. I hope that development friendly relations between our countries will expand opportunities for our cooperation. I wish you good health, success in your activity, and peace and prosperity to the friendly people of Libya.Sincerely,

Heydar Aliyev,

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

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MR. RUDOLF SCHUSTER PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVAKIA

Dear Mr. President,

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and the people of Slovakia on the country’s nationa holiday, the Day of Constitution. I am confident that relations of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Slovakia will be further developing and expanding in the name of the two nations’ prosperity. I wish you good health, success in your activity, and peace and prosperity to the friendly people of Slovakia.

Sincerely,

Heydar Aliyev,

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

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PRESIDENT OF SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM HE MR. Tran Duc Long

Dear Mr. President,

I cordially congratulate you and the people of Vietnam on the national holiday, the Day of Declaration of Independence. I am confident that we will continue in making efforts for development of friendly and cooperative relations between our countries. I wish You good health, success in your activity, and peace and progress to the Vietnam people.

Sincerely Yours,

Heydar Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

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PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN RECEIVED MEMBERS OF FRENCH SENATE’S FRIENDSHIP GROUP ON CAUCASUS

On September 1, Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a delegation of the French Senate led by the Chairman of the friendship group on Caucasus, Ambroise Dupont. Having warmly welcomed the guests, Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev said: - Dear guests, welcome to Azerbaijan. We know very well about the activities of the Caucasian Group of the French Senate. We highly appraise this activity, your contribution to formation of existing warm and friendly relations between our two countries. In whole, the relations between our countries are at high level. We cooperate in different fields. Friendly relations exist between Presidents of Azerbaijan and France, and it makes our countries closer. Besides, France is a co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk group and, naturally, plays an important role in activities of this group. We would like France’s role in the Minsk group will continue to be at high level. We know that your country takes all efforts in resolution of this issue and these efforts, probably, will go on in future. Of course, we hope that due to efforts of co-chair-countries of the OSCE Minsk group, and France among them, this conflict will resoslved in the near time. French companies are quite widely operating in Azerbaijan. A number of big French companies have been cooperating with us in Azerbaijan for a long period. We consider this cooperation extremely successful and are very much pleased with activities of French companies. We would like this cooperation to expand in future. Expressing gratitude for warm reception, the head of the delegation Ambroise Dupont said: - We have arrived within the framework of the France-Azerbaijan friendship group of the French Senate. Mr. Prime Minister, you have highly appraised the activity of the French-Azerbaijani friendship group. On my behalf, I would like to tell about the activities of this friendship group. Ms. Gular Ahmedova is the head of the group on behalf of Azerbaijan. She informs our group very well and we are very pleased with her work. We know that Azerbaijan is facing the Presidential elections. France is following pre-electoral process and shows a very serious attitude towards these elections. I would like to point out that the relations between our two countries are not limited by inter-parliamentary relations only. These relations are performed at the highest level. As you know there exist high-level relations between President Jacques Chirac and President Heydar Aliyev. Naturally, we wish the soonest recovery to your father. You touched upon the activities of the Minsk group and spoke on work could have been performed by the group in settlement of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Due to elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan, the settlement process had been held up. We are confident that after the electoral process is over, the Minsk group will renew its activities, Christian Ponsle is very attentive on this issue. Mr. Ponsle organized the meetings of the three Caucasian country parliamentarians and would schedule one more meeting until the end-year. Besides, at the end of the year he is going to pay a visit to Baku. Before this visit, he offered to meet personally with Chairmen of the three countries’ parliaments. It means, we are ready to render all kind of assistance in settlement of this conflict. We are aware that you are interested in the soonest resolution of this problem. As your know, the friendship group has permanent relations with Azerbaijan, This is my fourth visit to Azerbaijan for recent two years. For the last time I visited your country together with the State Secretary of France. That visit was connected with the activities of a joint economic commission. I should be underlined that we pay a special attention to economic cooperation between our countries. Bilateral economic agreement concluded between our countries makes us really happy. At the same time, we consider agreement in other fields to be very significant as well. I would like to stress two important fields of cooperation between our two countries. First, it is multisided development of economy of the country, i.e. diversification. This factor is extremely important for creating a balance in the society. Culture is the second acknowledged priority in our relations. Particularly, we are planning to found a culture center here. Minister of Economic Development Farkhad Aliyev renders us all kind of assistance in this field. We are grateful to you. The other project in culture is related to an art exhibition to be held in September 2004 in the building of the Senate. We will propaganda Azerbaijani art by means of this exhibition. I will tell you with a sense of pride that I am on visit to Baku accompanied by a very representative delegation. I would like to introduce them to you. Senator Bertrand Oban, member of the socialist fraction of opposition, Mr. Andre Dulet, Chairman of foreign affairs, defense and armed forces commission. He knows this region very well, has good knowledge about Central Asia and the region of your country. Senator Patris Jelar, first deputy chairman of the Senate legislative commission. As you see, our delegation represents all fields. The latter two senators are members of the group representing the parliamentary majority. Mr. Prime Minister thanks you again for this meeting. During a two-day stay in your country, we have held useful meetings and are planning to meet with some ministers. I would like to say; during these visits, we have learnt better about your country. Our aim is in bringing the information about Azerbaijan to French public. Thanking Ambroise Dupont for detailed speech, Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev said, - I know your have been on visit to the country for a few days and will stay for a while. You visited Guba yesterday and were going to hold a number of interesting meetings. I wish you a successful completion of your mission. Х Х ХForeign relations department head of President’s Office Novruz Mamedov, head of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) France-Azerbaijan friendship group Gular Ahmedova, Chairman of the Milli Majlis foreign relations commission Samed Seidov, Ambassador of France in Baku M-me Chantal Poiret were present at the meeting.

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MR. ILHAM ALIYEV PRIME MINISTER REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

On behalf of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, I convey congratulations on your new appointment. We hope to take part in efforts of your government, directed to turning Azerbaijan into a developed country with multi-sided market economy. According to our strategy on Azerbaijan, we intend to widen our activities in your country in the upcoming years. Besides continuous activities in oil and gas sector, we are planning to perform activities in strengthening of small and medium enterprises, financial sector and restoration of infrastructure in Azerbaijan. I hope to discuss our activities with you in the near time.

Sincerely,

Jean Lemier President,

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

London, August 26, 2003

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MR. ILHAM ALIYEV PRIME MINISTER REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

Your Excellency,

I congratulate you on your appointment as Prime Minister. Her Majesty’s government hopes to cooperate with you in upcoming years and strengthen the ties between our countries. Your participation in the conference in June, this year in Lancaster House to put forward the initiative of Tony Blair on transparency of extractive industry, is a bright evidence of our close relations.

Sincerely,

Doctor Denis McShane

MP Great Britain.

August 18, 2003

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MR. ILHAM ALIYEV PRIME MINISTER REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

Dear Ilham Heydarovich,

I congratulate you most cordially on your appointment to the post of Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan. I am confident that the government under your leadership will do its best for the country to move on the road of progress and development of good relations with Russia. I hope that friendly relations between people of St. Petersburg and Azerbaijan will be further strengthening. I wish you a good health, happiness and fruitful activities for the sake of Azerbaijani nation.

Alexander Beglov,

Acting Governor of St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg, August 29, 2003