BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 24. I think that the President of Kazakhstan announced the figure we are aiming for – a turnover worth 1 billion dollars. In my opinion, taking into account the intention of both sides to deepen mutual cooperation, this is quite realistic, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said making a press statement with President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Trend reports.
Statement by President Ilham Aliyev: Dear Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, I warmly welcome you to Azerbaijan again. Welcome to our country! You are paying an official visit to Azerbaijan. This is a manifestation of friendship and brotherhood between our peoples. Detailed negotiations have been held within the framework of the visit on current issues of the bilateral agenda, issues related to regional security and international problems. Many documents have been signed. Some of them were signed with our participation, and more than 20 documents were signed between relevant agencies today. This creates a broader legal framework for our relationship. Of course, of these documents, I would like to specifically mention the Declaration on the strengthening of strategic relations and the deepening of allied relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which we have just signed. The name of this Declaration itself testifies to the importance of the document. We are not only strategic partners, but also allies. Of course, this puts a special responsibility on us, and we are ready for this responsibility. The Declaration covers many aspects of our cooperation and will certainly serve as a very solid basis for our future interaction.
We have identified ways to develop our cooperation in the international arena. We actively interact within the framework of leading international organizations and this, of course, creates new preconditions for multilateral cooperation. In June, the ministers of foreign affairs and transport of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkey met in Baku. This is a new format of multilateral cooperation, and this cooperation has great prospects. The Joint Declaration also reflects the possible future development of multilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the five countries of Central Asia. In my opinion, this is also natural, because the history, traditions and culture of our peoples require closer interaction in all areas.
We have talked in detail about the transport and logistical sectors today and given relevant instructions to members of the government to intensify these relations. Because the Middle Corridor connecting our countries has great prospects. Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have already put in place a modern infrastructure that enables the transportation of large volumes of cargo. However, we have also identified future directions of cooperation in order to further increase the capacity of the Middle Corridor.
The importance of connecting the Eastern Zangazur region of Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan was also mentioned in the Joint Declaration. This will be a part of the Middle Corridor. I have informed Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich about the work we are doing in liberated territories.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my gratitude to the President of Kazakhstan for the initiative to establish the Center for the Development of Children's Creativity in the liberated city of Fuzuli. Today, a presentation of that center was held and we saw again how sincere the attitude of Kazakhstan is to the problem of returning former internally displaced persons, how urgent this problem is for Kazakhstan. Thank you very much for this initiative. This is a manifestation of friendship, brotherhood and solidarity. I am sure that the Center for the Development of Children's Creativity, which will be named after Kurmangazy, the prominent son of the Kazakh people, will also be a center of Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan friendship.
I would like to thank the President of Kazakhstan again for awarding the highest order of Kazakhstan – the “Altyn Kyran” Order, which is translated as the Golden Eagle – to me. I consider this as a sign of respect for the entire Azerbaijani people, a recognition of the efforts I have made and will continue to make for the development of brotherly relations between our countries and peoples.
Today, during our meeting with the President of Kazakhstan, I informed Mr. President in detail about the current state of the process of normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and reaffirmed Azerbaijan's intention to create long-term and lasting peace in the South Caucasus region. At the same time, I expressed my gratitude for Kazakhstan’s continuous support of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity both during the occupation and after the second Karabakh war within the framework of international institutions. We in Azerbaijan know and appreciate this very much. During our conversations and discussions today, we also touched upon the issue of increasing the turnover of goods. In my opinion, our focus on priority directions of mutual activity within the field of transport and logistics will allow us the opportunity to carry out more export-import transactions. I believe that there is tremendous potential there. I think that the President of Kazakhstan announced the figure we are aiming for – a turnover worth 1 billion dollars. In my opinion, taking into account the intention of both sides to deepen mutual cooperation, this is quite realistic.
Of course, we have also discussed other issues related to information and communication technologies and humanitarian cooperation. In other words, our agenda today is quite broad, and we see that the positions of our countries completely overlap in all directions. This once again shows that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are strategic partners and allies not only in word but also in deed.
I want to express my gratitude to the President of Kazakhstan for visiting our country and for the attitude we have seen from him and the brotherly Kazakh people. I want to wish Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich the best of luck in all his initiatives on my behalf and on behalf of the entire Azerbaijani people. During the conversation, I also expressed my attitude to the reforms being implemented in Kazakhstan, the reforms aimed at economic development and the steps aimed at strengthening the independence and sovereignty of Kazakhstan. We fully support these reforms in Azerbaijan, but most importantly, they are supported by the people of Kazakhstan. The people see that the President's words and deeds do not contradict each other. They see the results of Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich's activities for the further development of Kazakhstan. As your friends and brothers, we are very happy about this and want to wish the brotherly people of Kazakhstan success, prosperity and peace.
Thank you.