STATEMENT BY AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV
- Honorable Mr. President,
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank you Mr. President for inviting me to visit your beautiful country and also for hospitality shown to me and my entourage.
I consider this visit, the first official visit of an Azerbaijani president to Switzerland, an important step towards developing the bilateral relations. We enjoy the successfully developing ties. Early this year we met with you in Davos and had very interesting discussions. And today we are continuing our dialogue.
This dialogue covers a variety of spheres. We have had very good results and this can be continued as our relations are very promising. Over the last few years our relations have seen dynamic development. Reciprocal visits by presidents and delegations, creation of friendship groups at the Swiss and Azerbaijani parliaments and the holding of the Azerbaijani culture days in Switzerland are all important elements of our bilateral relations.
Switzerland is a close partner and friend of ours. Mr. President, the atmosphere that you have created here today is the atmosphere of real friendship. We have discussed very important issues concerning our bilateral relations and ways of developing them. We`ve also explored opportunities for implementing joint investment projects both in Switzerland and Azerbaijan. Our trade is increasingly growing, and our economic relations are successfully developing despite the global financial crisis.
Today we`ve also discussed settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. I`ve updated Mr. President on latest developments in the talks.
Early this year we already discussed our energy cooperation, and this issue will be discussed today and tomorrow. We have big potential in this sphere. We have common perspectives related to the European energy security. With its rich oil and gas reserves, Azerbaijan is ready to supply its energy carriers to its partners in Europe. Our mutual interests in this respect may help us in forming a new transportation route to be named “Southern corridor”.
I believe our relations will continue developing in future. We have all necessary conditions for this - political will, strong political ties, reciprocal attractiveness of our economies and favorable investment opportunities. We have adherence and ability to pursue an independent policy, we have a favorable geographical location and we have a desire to build closer relations for the prosperity of our peoples and countries.
I`m greatly satisfied with our discussions, our meeting has been very fruitful. It has allowed us to focus on traditional issues of mutual interest and outline our new priorities.
Mr. President,
Once again I thank you for inviting us here and for your hospitality.
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