Baku, June 2 (AZERTAC). President of Switzerland Didier Burkhalter has today met Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov.

Mr. Asadov spoke of Azerbaijan-Switzerland ties and bilateral cooperation between the two countries in a variety of fields.

“About 40 Swiss companies are operating in Azerbaijan,” said the Speaker, adding “most of them are engaged in the non-oil sector”.

“Azerbaijan has been developing rapidly and the country has already started to invest in energy sector of Switzerland,” Mr. Asadov said.

The Speaker of the Parliament noted the role of reciprocal visits of the two presidents and interparliamentary ties as important in terms of strengthening the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Switzerland.

Mr. Asadov said the current visit of the Swiss leader would give impetus to expanding the bilateral ties.

Praising Azerbaijan-Switzerland political and economic relations, Mr. Asadov noted 26 documents had been signed between the two countries and seven more were ready to be signed.

The Parliament Speaker said the two countries had been cooperating under a number of the international organizations.

Mr. Asadov noted Azerbaijan would host the 23rd session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, adding the country would also chair the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for 6 months.

Mr. Asadov also touched on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, expressing regret over the fact that the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group had not yet produced any results.

“The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions on the conflict. But Armenia ignores these resolutions and continues the occupation of 20 per cent of the Azerbaijani lands,” said Mr. Asadov.

President Burkhalter hailed bilateral ties between Azerbaijan and Switzerland.

Noting he visits Azerbaijan also as the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, the President said they widely discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Swiss President noted the importance of listening to the conflicting parties.

Mr. Burkhalter said he would visit Georgia and Armenia in next two days, expressing hope that the visits would contribute to speeding up the negotiations to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.