PRESIDENTS OF AZERBAIJAN AND BULGARIA MEET IN ENLARGED FORMAT
Welcoming Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and accompanied delegation, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said:
Dear Mr. President!
Dear guests!
I would like to greet you all and say welcome to Azerbaijan!
We attach a great importance to your visit. We are sure that it will foster development of relationship between our two countries. There are very favorable conditions for development of the relations in political, economic, cultural and other spheres. The intergovernmental commission is working, and I am sure their job will make our economic cooperation much closer. I also want to note that as a country presiding the OSCE, Bulgaria is taking great effort for resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We are satisfied of this, and grateful for your efforts. In other words, I hope our relations will be intensified and deepened after this visit. You know the Embassy of Azerbaijan has been recently launched in Bulgaria, and this will also contribute to the development of the relations. I am greeting you again, and sure the visit will be a success and our relations will enter a higher level.
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov thanked the Azerbaijani leader for the hospitality and said:
Dear Mr. President, let to thank you for the invitation to visit your country. My opinion is that our relations have much far greater potential than our political contacts existing at the moment. I believe, as heads of state we are able to set an example for the rest of Bulgarian and Azerbaijani institution as to intensification of our relations. I am satisfied with the work of the intergovernmental commission, and believe it will have sown us good job by the completion of our visit to Azerbaijan.
It’s very important to me to work now in the framework of the visit and continue to work after that on creation of the legal base and its modernization. The very fact that we are participating in the signing of these agreements, and that the representatives of the central and local bodies are involved in this process is very symbolic.
Mr. President, the reasons for unfavorable state of our economic relations need to be thoroughly analyzed. The volume of goods turnover making $7 mln is rather dissatisfactory and symbolic, especially in comparison with the showings regarding your neighbors. Concerns certainly exist, however, and the ongoing Bulgaria-Azerbaijan business-forum is an evidence of this.
There are several important issues related to our international interaction. First, Bulgaria is a NATO member and is going to join the European Union soon. I think we can successfully cooperate in the light of your stated intentions. My personal opinion is that the European Union’s new neighborhood policy must be enriched with a new content. Bulgaria will adhere to this policy. On the other hand, we hope Bulgaria will become a kind of gateway to the European Union for Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani businessmen in particular.
Mr. President, it’s also very important that we are on the same side in fighting the international terrorism. Our presence in the same hot spots indicates that the conflicts happen not in religious or ethnic context. They bear absolutely different character. And here is where we could successfully interact, especially keeping in mind that Bulgaria is the NATO member, and Azerbaijan is its active partner.
Finally, I would like to say that raising the level of our mutual presence is also very important: Bulgaria already has its Ambassador to Azerbaijan, and I welcome your decision to open an embassy in Sofia. At first sight, this factor may not seem to be so significant, but we know how often the issues like this play very important role.
Afterwards, in presence of both Presidents, the heads of the two countries ministries and departments have had a comprehensive exchange of opinions on further development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.
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