President Ilham Aliyev: Relations between Azerbajan and Czech Republic develop successfully - UPDATE - PHOTOS

An Azerbaijan-Czechia business forum was held in Baku on May 17 with participation of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic.

The Azerbaijani leader first welcomed his Czech counterpart. The forum participants warmly welcomed the presidents .

"I once again welcome Mr.President in Azerbaijan. Today we have gathered for a very important event, a business forum, in the framework of Czech President Vaclav Klaus’s visit to our country. I am confident that the business forum will bring the expected results and they will be in the mainstream of the relationships shaping between our two countries," President Aliyev said speaking at the business forum.

President Aliyev said the Czech President’s visit to Azerbaijan is an important event of historical character, as it is the first visit. "It is the first such a high-level visit of the president, official visit, for over all years of cooperation between our countries. Although high executives earlier paid visits to Baku, but, the president’s official visit is, of course, particularly important. The visit has been very successful," he stressed.

He said the two sides held very fruitful discussions this morning and discussed a wide range of issues, including cooperation in the economic sphere and contacts between business structures of the countries. "Today, I believe that we should give an important signal to business structures to work more closely together. The business community is always very sensitive to political nuances, and I must say that political relations between our countries are at a high level. Our countries have no problem with each other. But, there is a mutual desire to develop relations and strengthen cooperation in the bilateral format and in the context of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European institutions," Aliyev said.

Therefore , given such a solid political base, I believe the business should also have its say. We already have certain successes and the fact that Mr. President is accompanied by a business delegation is evidence to mutual interest between our business- groups. I think that today’s forum has already presented Azerbaijan’s economic achievements, as well as opportunities, so that to have a more complete picture of what is happening in our country, how the economy transforms and what kind of reforms we are implementing ," Aliyev said.

"The economic independence has been the foundation of our independence for us. We became independent less than 20 years ago. The country created good conditions for business and we try to take additional steps each year to reduce bureaucratic barriers and impediments for the business to be better," Aliyev said.

"We have managed to create a favorable investment climate, attracted large investments from around the world," he said. "Basically, we attracted investment from the developed countries and they were invested in oil and gas sector in the early years. It was natural, because Azerbaijan, in early 1990's, was interesting from an economic point of view only as the possessor of energy. Our task was to transform this interest into investment in the economy’s non-oil sector. To this end, we had had to introduce ourselves as a reliable partner, so that foreign investors know that investment is protected and the state fulfills all its obligations."

Aliyev said major investments in energy, first, allowed the country to accumulate financial resources. "Moreover, the country has gained a good reputation in the world economic circles. Third, we were able to attract investment in those sectors which are priorities for us, namely, non-oil sector, agriculture, infrastructure, transport and tourism. Thanks to our diversification policy, a sharp drop in oil prices that we have witnessed a few years ago has passed virtually unnoticed in relation to our country. Although, decrease in oil prices by 4-5 times was a great test for a country, whose main revenues come from oil sales, our economy was growing even in 2008, 2009 and 2010, during the global economic crisis," he stressed.

Azerbaijan develops one of the largest gas fields in the world - Shah Deniz, whose gas reserves hit over 1 trillion cubic meters. Generally, Azerbaijan’s proven gas reserves are 2.2 trillion cubic meters. "However, I am sure that these reserves will rise, because we are still in the stage of exploration of new fields and Azerbaijan’s gas potential will play an important role in ensuring energy security in our partner countries. We have now diversified ways to deliver our energy resources to the world markets. Three oil and four gas pipelines exist to transport our energy resources to all directions, the north, west and south. Thus, we feel fairly confident in the fact that the country does not depend on one supply route. Thus, diversification is provided in full and we understand consumers seeking to diversify energy supply sources. Therefore, the coordination between producers and consumers, balance of interests and diversification, as well as free competition are those to which we aspire," President Aliyev said.

Speaking at the event, President Klaus said he is very pleased that he agreed on his visit to Azerbaijan with President Aliyev in Prague two years ago, and that, eventually, it took place. "I hope that this visit -- not only mine, but the visit of our delegation, the delegation of our businessmen -- as Mr. President said is an important signal that we are interested in developing bilateral relations in all fields, including economics. Economics is one of the most important areas, because this is a serious base for further development of our relations. I agree that this morning we had positive, productive, as the president said, beneficial negotiations. It seems to me that we well understand each other and this is a good base for further cooperation. We did not have just talks. We have also signed three agreements between our countries today," he stressed .

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev yesterday hosted an official reception in honor of President of Czechia Vaclav Klaus and his spouse Livia Klausova. The presidents made speeches at the reception.

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President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus has today visited the Azerbaijan`s Parliament (Milli Majlis), where he met with speaker Ogtay Asadov.

Prior to the meeting, the Czech President familiarized himself with an administrative building and meeting hall of the Parliament.

Mr. Klaus also viewed national leader Heydar Aliyev's memorial hall in the Parliament and signed the honorary guests book.

Asadov stressed relations between Azerbaijan and Czechia were steady developing.
He said meetings between the two countries` presidents, reciprocal visits paved the way for expansion of relationship even more.

Asadov spoke of economic and trade relations between the two countries.
The Speaker also added Azerbaijan and Czechia have huge potential to boost trade turnover and develop economic cooperation.

It was stressed Azerbaijan made great achievements in implementation of energy projects in the region.

They noted Azerbaijan plays important role in energy security of Europe.

Asadov underlined the role of parliaments in development of ties between the countries.

The Speaker briefed the Czech President on dynamic development of Azerbaijan and the country's European integration. He also spoke of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Czech President said his country was interested in expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan in all fields.

Vaclav Klaus expressed hope this visit would contribute to developing bilateral relations. The President said Czechia attaches great importance to the Eastern Partnership. He also added his country support Azerbaijan`s European integration.

Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr. Klaus noted "Czechia supports Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity".

He underlined the necessity of the soonest and fair resolution of the conflict.

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President of the Czech Respublic Vaclav Klaus and his spouse Livia Klausova yesterday visited the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Azerbaijani President's official website reported.

The Czech President and his spouse were welcomed by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

President Ilham Aliyev briefed the Czech counterpart and Livia Klausova on the activity of the Foundation.

Vaclav Klaus was told the main goal of the Foundation, established in the memory of the Azerbaijani people's national leader, is to study and popularize prominent political figure Heydar Aliyev's rich heritage, give an idea to the future generations and foreign visitors about his large-scale activity to achieve Azerbaijan's socio-economic, cultural progress, and assist projects promoting the country's history and culture.

The President saw exhibits taken from the archive of the great leader and reflecting his childhood, youth, university years and career, pictures covering the very various moments of his life and giving a comprehensive idea of the whole history of Azerbaijan, photos taken with figures of science, culture and art, leaders of different countries.

President Vaclav Klaus signed the Foundation's Guest Book.

The Czech President was presented with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation's keepsake.

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An Azerbaijan-Czechia business forum was held here Monday with participation of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, the Azerbaijani President's official website reported.

The Azerbaijani leader first welcomed his Czech counterpart. Both Presidents made their remarks at the event.

Following the forum, Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Vaclav Klaus saw a panoramic view of the capital here at the seaside national park. The Czech leader was briefed on the reconstruction work done in the capital over recent years.

The business forum brought together both countries` officials and over 200 businessmen from the fields of agriculture, food, finance, energy, healthcare, construction, ICT. The event was supported by the Ministry of Economic Development and organized by the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation and Czech embassy to Azerbaijan.

The third business forum featured presentations on business and investment opportunities in Azerbaijan. The forum also saw meetings among businessmen to discuss prospects for expanding cooperation.

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17.05.2011

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev addressed participants of meeting with the delegations.

"Dear Mr. President! Dear guests! I would like to welcome you in Azerbaijan once again. This is your first visit to our country. I am positive that the visit will be successful. We held great discussions on various topics from our agenda, talked about bilateral relations, as well as the partnership between the European Union and Azerbaijan," Aliyev said.

"I am confident that this visit and its results will strengthen our ties. We attach a huge importance to bilateral relations between our countries. Our relations are developing successfully. Visits of high-delegations have been organized. This official visit of Mr. President is, of course, the highlight of our relations. I am certain that the visit will result in active development of our political, economic, cultural and energy cooperation. In other words, our bilateral agenda is quite broad. We hope that, as a result of this visit, the business circles of our countries will gather together and will explore joint business opportunities," he said.

"I welcome you once again and am very delighted that, as part of your trip program, you will also get to visit one of Azerbaijan’s regions. It is essential that you get to see not only the capital, but also the regional development. I hope that you will leave with great impressions. Welcome once again ," President Aliyev said.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome.

"Thank you Mr. President! As I told you earlier and I want to stress again that we have already solved all the problems with Mr. President. I think there is no need to continue. We had rigorous and fruitful talks in a friendly atmosphere," he said.

"I just want to reiterate that I am very grateful for your invitation. I have been preparing for this visit for quite a long time. I thought if I didn’t pay a visit to this part of the world, to this region and to this country, then my agenda wouldn’t be substantial," Klaus said.

"We benefited from the fact that the relations between our countries had been intensifying in the recent years. Visits of different politicians and businessmen are positive facts. I want to hope that the documents signed today will give an extra impetus to our cooperation," Klaus stressed.

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President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus has today visited the Alley of Honors to lay a wreath at the tomb of Azerbaijan's national leader, architect and founder of Azerbaijani state Heydar Aliyev.

The President also put flowers at the grave of prominent ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva.

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Following a ceremony of signing of Azerbaijan-Czech documents, Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic have made statements for the media outlets.

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Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic met in presence of delegations.

Following the meeting, the heads of states began the ceremony of signing documents.

Ramiz Hasanov, Chairman of Azerbaijan's State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents and Mr. Milan Holeček, President of Czech office for Standards, Metrology and Testing signed a memorandum of understanding between Azerbaijan's State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents and Czech office for Standards, Metrology and Testing on cooperation in the sphere of standardization, metrology and conformance evaluation.

Azerbaijani ambassador to the Czech Republic Tahir Tagizade and Czech ambassador to Azerbaijan Radek Matula signed an agreement between the governments of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic on exchange and mutual protection of the secret information.

Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Czech Republic Tahir Tagizade and Czech ambassador to Azerbaijan Radek Matula signed an agreement between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic on encouragement and mutual protection of investments.

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Following the welcoming ceremony, face-to-face meeting took place between Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, Azerbaijani President’s official website reported.

The successful development of bilateral relations in various fields, including political, economic, energy and other fields was stressed at the meeting.

Heads of state noted the good potential to expand further bilateral relations.

Presidents underlined the importance of Azerbaijani-Czech relations in light of the co-operation in the framework of the European Union.

Both sides exchanged views on bilateral, regional and international issues at the meeting.

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President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus yesterday arrived in Azerbaijan for an official visit.

A guard of honor was lined up for the President at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport decorated with the national flags of Azerbaijan and Czechia.

President Klaus was welcomed here by First Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Yagub Eyyubov and other officials.

The Czech President and his wife Livia Klausová were given flowers. President Klaus and Azerbaijan's First Deputy Premier had a brief meeting at the airport's VIP room.


/Trend, AzerTAc/


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