Two inter-governmental agreements were signed between the countries on 29 September 2005 in the presence of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of Finland Taria Halonen. The Ministers of Taxes signed the agreement “On avoiding double taxation” and the Foreign Ministries heads - Memorandum on Understanding, Trend reports.
Ilham Aliyev told the joint new conference that a wide range of issues, particularly, regional ones, conflicts in South Caucasus and the ways for their settlement was discussed between the two countries. He voiced satisfaction by the level of political relations between Azerbaijan and Finland. President also noted a big potential in the economic cooperation which will be demonstrated by the to-morrow’s Azerbaijani-Finnish business forum.
According to Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan plans to implement a number of projects on the development of the infrastructure, including electrical energy, water utilities, education and healthcare in the nearest perspective. Beside the local companies, foreign investors may be also involved in the process, for whom the major point is a good legislative base and the political stability.
Ilham Aliyev noted, resolving of conflicts in the South Caucasus is an important condition for the development of these countries’ economy and their integration into Europe. He also appreciated highly the support of Finland in the issue of the Azerbaijan’s integration into Europe and voiced hope, the current visit of the head of Finland to Azerbaijan will intensify the bilateral relations.
Taria Halonen, in her turn, noted the importance of cooperation in the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In her opinion, the principal thing for the conflict resolution is its peaceful settlement.
The President of Finland noted also a big potential for the economic cooperation of the both countries, in the high technologies and tourism in particular. According to her, the tomorrow’s business forum will be a good opportunity for studying the potentials of the future economic cooperation.