Baku, December 5, AZERTAC

As part of his official trip to Azerbaijan Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has visited ADA University.

ADA University rector, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Hafiz Pashayev welcomed Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who met the university`s teaching staff and students. Hafiz Pashayev highlighted the activities of the university. He said it is currently cooperating with a number of Turkish higher educational institutions. Mr. Pashayev drew the audience`s attention to public and political activities of Prime Minister Davutoglu. The rector called the Turkish Premier`s visit to ADA University a historical event.

Mr Davutoglu gave a lecture titled “Turkish-Azerbaijani strategic partnership in the face of global challenges”. He praised relations between the countries as excellent. “Our relations are very different than those between any two countries. This was best expressed by national leader Heydar Aliyev who said “One nation, two states”, and our poet Bakhtiyar Vahabzade who called Turkey and Azerbaijan two sons of one mother.”

Saying there are close economic relations between the two countries, the Prime Minister added “we aim to increase mutual investment to 20 billion dollars and bilateral trade from 5 billion dollars to 15 billion dollars in a short space of time”.

The Turkish Prime Minister drew the audience`s attention to his country`s foreign policy. He also touched upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mr Davutoglu said Turkey has always been supporting Azerbaijan’s fair position.

The Prime Minister hailed the importance of joint regional projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars. He also applauded the role of TAP and TANAP projects in ensuring regional development.

Mr Davutoglu responded to questions from ADA University students.