BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 4. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
Welcoming the minister, President Ilham Aliyev said: I am glad to see you. Welcome to Azerbaijan! I am sure that your visit will be fruitful.
Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, for taking the time to receive us. It is a great honor for me to be visiting Azerbaijan and it is a great pleasure to meet with Your Excellency. Please allow me to convey to you and the people of Azerbaijan the sincere greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Royal Highness the King and the Crown Prince. Thank you very much again for receiving us this morning.
President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you. Please convey my greetings to His Royal Highness and Crown Prince. I have very good memories of my visit to your brotherly country and the discussions held with His Royal Highness and the Crown Prince. I am sure that your visit will play a very important part in the further development of our relations, which have already reached the highest possible level. We are attaching great value to these sincere relations between our countries. We have always felt the support of your government and people. During the occupation, Saudi Arabia was one of a handful of countries that continuously supported our righteous cause. A clear example of this was the fact that Saudi Arabia did not establish diplomatic relations with Armenia during the occupation. Only three countries in the world have taken this step, and we are really grateful for that.
Now, after liberating our lands from occupation, we are implementing a large-scale reconstruction program and want to see companies from brotherly countries as our partners there. At the same time, the beginning of the year was also very memorable – a large power plant project financed by a company from your country was launched. That project was a good start to the beginning of the year and it is going well. I recently met with several members of your government and was briefed on the progress of the project.
In other words, our relations are developing in the political and economic spheres. I am sure that more tourists will be coming to our country. Because the numbers related to COVID-19 have already gone down and the situation is getting back to normal. Of course, cultural relations between our brotherly countries are also developing successfully. We are very close to each other. Our citizens visit Saudi Arabia, your citizens come to Azerbaijan, and they see this clearly.
Cooperation within international organizations is another important part of our relations. We are grateful for the support provided within the framework of the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. We are successfully cooperating with each other in these institutions. I am sure that during your visit, within the framework of consultations with your colleagues, we will determine the directions we will move forward along in order to further strengthen our relations. Welcome again.
Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud: Thank you, Your Excellency. Indeed, friendly relations between our countries are very strong and we are brothers. We have worked closely together and stood by each other for decades. This is the position of the leadership of our country.
Your Excellency, we have much more to do. We have tremendous potential based on the strong friendship between us. Under your leadership and guidance, we have made progress on a number of economic issues over the past few months. Despite the strong relations between our nations at the political level, there is much work to be done in the field of economy. Our turnover is low and mutual investment is not in line with the economic potential of both countries. Your Excellency, in the last two years, there has been significant economic growth in Azerbaijan, and your country has achieved great success like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We in Saudi Arabia believe that there are great opportunities out there for building stronger cooperation on the basis of our existing brotherly relations between us.