Amman, April 20 (AZERTAC). Azerbaijan is a strong, modern and dynamically developing state, which occupies a special place in the international arena today, said famous politician, member of the Jordanian Senate`s Council, Secretary General of the Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development, chairman of the Azerbaijan-Jordan Friendship Society, Marwan Al-Hmoud. According to him, Azerbaijan made a breakthrough and turned into the advanced country.

“Indeed, when we talk about Azerbaijan, we are overwhelmed with great love, sympathy and deep respect for the people of Azerbaijan and leadership of your country. It is good that the heads of our states King Abdullah II and President Ilham Aliyev have friendly and fraternal relations, which set the tone for the bilateral relation. It eases our goals and encourages interaction in all areas of cooperation. Thanks to this, representatives of various branches of government of our countries hold regular meetings to search for the chances and additional opportunities for closer cooperation for the sake of both nations.

As you may know, our countries reached many agreements and signed respective deals on cooperation in vary fields. No doubt, it all helps expand official and public ties. The Friendship groups created and successfully working in the Jordan`s and Azerbaijan`s parliaments are of special importance. The members of these groups are in touch, exchange visits, discuss concrete interaction opportunities. Thus, such a format of interaction positively affect the relationship, make our peoples closer and enables us to explore opportunities which help create new chances for more effective cooperation between us.

I would like to underline the role of highly qualified professional diplomats of Azerbaijan and Jordan who deal with topical issues of cooperation. For example, much was done to strengthen bilateral ties when the Azerbaijani diplomatic mission in Jordan was headed by Ambassador Elman Arasly who has huge experience on relations with Jordan. We founded the Jordan-Azerbaijan Friendship Society which has existed for six years.

What is praiseworthy is the huge contribution of the incumbent ambassador of Azerbaijan Sabir Aghabeyov who successfully continues this kind tradition and does much to develop relations between our countries. He is a professional diplomat and an attractive person who has wonderful relations in Jordan and he makes every effort to make these relations more active in all spheres - political, economic, social, cultural - give an impetus to them.

By and large, there is good and trust relationship between our countries.

The Jordan`s delegation will visit Azerbaijan later this month to attend the international conference which will be attended by chairman of the Senate`s Council Abdul Raouf Al Rawabdeh and several members of the senate as well as the representatives of the friendship group for Azerbaijan. We hope that during the visit, additional meetings between parliamentarians of the two countries will be organized since such meetings create a favorable climate for expansion of cooperation,” said Hmoud. He underlined that many issues will be raised in Baku including those associated with tourism, which is the important part of economic cooperation.

“We will be seeking mutually beneficial solution for boosting tourism in both directions since both our countries have similar old and rich culture,” the senator said.

The Jordan`s MP shared his impression on the radical changes in Azerbaijan, which astonished him a lot.

“I visited Azerbaijan for the first time in 1982 as a member of the Soviet-Jordan commission for friendship as part of the week of Soviet-Jordan relationship held in Baku. I was a member of the big delegation headed by chairman of the Jordanian parliament. We participated in many political, public and cultural events there and I have become familiar with Baku since then. My brightest memories are associated with the meeting with great politician, national leader Heydar Aliyev. This great man made a great impression on all with his intelligence, talent of a politician, deep knowledge. He is the one who has the enormous political, public potential for development of the prosperous future of Azerbaijan. He was a great politician.

When I visited Azerbaijan three years ago I was shocked with the changes in the face of the city, huge buildings, deep reforms in the country.

I am impressed by the economic successes of Azerbaijan. After regaining its independence all the resources of Azerbaijan were used purposefully on priority areas in order to improve the welfare of the people. Despite construction of new modern buildings, you managed to conserve the old traditional face of your city, which harmonically goes with the modern age. This synthesis creates a very beautiful and unique face of the city. If I had not known Baku and all his amenities before, I would have thought I found myself in a completely difference city and other world. This demonstrates the presence of the wise and responsible leadership in the country and deep understanding of the spirit of people and needs of the country. This tremendous development and progress, which is observed now in Azerbaijan, arouses the feeling of pride and is worthy of praise and deep respect”

We visited many famous places in Azerbaijan, oil fields and others and made sure that development and modernization affected all the fields including economic, financial-trade, construction, agriculture, technology etc. The Azerbaijani leadership has done much work, setting accurate priorities and approaches for the reforms in the country otherwise it is impossible that so tremendous changes were brought about in such short period, without political will of the leadership, efforts of responsible people in cooperation with the citizens of the country.

While in Baku, we were received by President Ilham Aliyev who is a prominent politician. After the meeting, I presented him a book on the life of Heydar Aliyev translated into Arabic. The President expressed gratitude by saying that I made him the most precious gift of a lifetime - book on life of Heydar Aliyev,” he said.

On the Jordan`s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, Al-Hmoud said that his country backs Azerbaijan on all issues. According to him, his country supports Azerbaijan`s fair position, in particular, territorial integrity.

“On the Karabakh problem, we support position of Azerbaijan in the United Nations. At the same time, we favor the peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two parties and hope for the peaceful solution in favor of Azerbaijan. I must note that our countries share the same position on many international issues and our countries support each other on many issues,” he underlined.

The senator told of the activity of the Jordan-Azerbaijan Friendship Society and parliamentary friendship group.

“No doubt, all needed steps are being taken in our activity in order to expand bilateral relations. One of the priorities is to educate the public about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. A conference was held to this effect. At this event, we told of the Karabakh problem and position of our state and people on this issue. Thereby, hundreds of the conference participants got an objective information.

I would be happy to underline the cultural and public exchanges and reciprocal visits that cement our humanitarian ties. In addition, meetings are regularly held to discuss plans and projects for the foreseeable future. We take an active part in joint events, national holidays. We are currently working on the translation of Elvira Arasly`s “Jordan - my love” book from Arabic into English in order to distribute it to all the Jordan`s embassies,” the senator underlined.

In conclusion, the famous Jordanian politician underlined that Azerbaijan is today developing in an organized manner thanks to the clear strategy of the leadership.

“In Azerbaijan, I feel the political will or the progress and prosperity, and leadership of Azerbaijan makes every effort for this, diverting oil revenues to modernization of all fields of the economy and social sector. This development spans all the sectors and fields of the country`s life,” Al-Hmoud said.