Today.Az - President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva attend reception on the occasion of opening of Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Paris - UPDATE

Today.Az » Politics » President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva attend reception on the occasion of opening of Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Paris - UPDATE - PHOTOS

20 September 2012 [09:00] - Today.Az

Paris has hosted a reception marking the opening of the Azerbaijani Cultural Center.

The Center opened with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Azerbaijan`s Embassy.

President Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the event.

The Azerbaijani leader addressed the reception, which brought together state and government officials from both countries, famous public, political and cultural figures. The event featured the presentation of Azerbaijani national dishes.

The reception ended with a concert.

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19.09.12
22:13

President Ilham Aliyev today attended the ceremony of opening of the Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Paris.

The Cultural Center has been created with support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Azerbaijani Embassy in Paris.

Head of the Azerbaijani State and the First Lady have acquainted with the Center, located near the Eiffel Tower. The Center is of great importance for propaganda of country’s culture in the center of world culture. It will promote to make known Azerbaijan as a leading force of inter-cultural and inter-civilization dialogue platform, and is, therefore, of particular importance. The Center with samples of rich culture and history of Azerbaijan embodies the ancient cultural and historical heritage of Azerbaijan which is active in the cultural life of Paris. It shows the endless interest to the Republic either.

A greater part of the actions the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva implements to propagandize the country abroad is connected with the cultural life of Paris. The new Center will strengthen the works carried out in this direction.

As stated, the Center with three thousands square meters area is a historical building to serve numerous humanitarian actions connected with Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev hoisted the state flag in the yard of Cultural Center. The Center is rich with archeological findings, samples of ancient numismatics, guns, and numerous coppersmith creations.

The Center exhibits Azerbaijani carpets, the history of carpet weaving schools in Azerbaijan, the miniature art as a remarkable part of the eastern art, gives full information about the folk art samples, the national costumes, bronze sculpture.

A rich library with the translated samples of Azerbaijani literature into the French language will be interesting for readership.

The Cultural Center presents modern works of young Azerbaijani artists, as the modern art is paid particular attention in Azerbaijan and evaluated highly.

The Center houses a separate mugham hall, where are exhibited the ancient national musical instruments of Azerbaijan.

President of Azerbaijan signed the Guest Book of the Cultural Center.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today met businessmen from the MEDEF, Movement of the Enterprises of France, in Paris, as part of his working visit to France.

The Head of State was welcomed by chairman of MEDEF International Jean Burrell.
Jean Burrell thanked the Azerbaijani President for the meeting.

He noted the event brought together nearly 60 businessmen from various companies.

Addressing the event, President Ilham Aliyev said previous meetings with businessmen from MEDEF contributed to establishing strong partnership relationship between leading Azerbaijani and French companies in the field of economy.

The Head of State noted economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and France was developing rapidly, adding trade between the two countries has increased.
President Ilham Aliyev noted economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and France would continue to diversify even more.

The President said the French leading companies Total and GDF Suez were Azerbaijan`s long-term partners.

“Azerbaijan is now working with its partners in ensuring European energy security.”
The Head of State said Azerbaijan had big oil and gas reserves.

“Diversifying energy routes is a key priority for us, and our interests coincide with those of our European partners on this issue. Azerbaijan is today a reliable partner for Europe.”

President Ilham Aliyev noted Azerbaijan supports involving French companies in TANAP project.

The President spoke of Azerbaijan`s economic achievements. President Ilham Aliyev responded to questions from businessmen about economic processes in Azerbaijan, the country`s role in ensuring European energy security and implemented projects.

The President briefed the event participants on Azerbaijan`s economic priorities, activity of French companies in Azerbaijan, non-oil sector, the current state and further role of the country in the region and cooperative relations in the fields of energy, transport, healthcare, tourism, customs, information and communication.
The Mouvement des Entreprises de France or MEDEF is the largest union of employers in France.

It has more than 800,000 member firms, 90% are from SME, with fewer than 50 employees. MEDEF is engaged in lobbying all decision-makers at the local, regional, national and European levels. Every year, MEDEF International organizes a number of delegations of French business leaders with concrete projects to targeted countries, especially developing countries.

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18:09.12
23:52

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today met former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

During the meeting, they noted bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and France were successfully developing in a variety of fields.

They expressed confidence cooperation between the two countries would continue to expand.

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22:44

President Ilham Aliyev has today met French counterpart Francois Hollande at Elysee Palace in Paris.

A guard of honor was lined up for the Azerbaijani President here.

President Ilham Aliyev passed along a ceremonial guard of honor. French President Francois Hollande welcomed the Azerbaijani leader.

During the meeting, they discussed cooperative relations between Azerbaijan and France in various directions.

They said these relations were successfully developing in the fields of politics, economy and culture.

The presidents noted the active role of French companies in Azerbaijan`s economy.
They stressed the importance of the French investment in Azerbaijan.

The Heads of State said the two countries had good prospects for cooperation in this field.

They also discussed the current state of negotiations to settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as what must be done with respect to settlement of this dispute.

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18:48

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva and French President Francois Hollande have today attended the opening of Islamic art exhibition halls at Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Head of State and his spouse were welcomed by French President Francois Hollande.

Addressing the event, General Director of the Louvre Museum Henri Loyrette said France attached great importance to preserving all cultures, including Islamic art.

He noted the Museum played an important role in building intercultural dialogue.

The President of France said he was proud of the establishment of Islamic art exhibition halls at Louvre Museum.

Francois Hollande thanked the Azerbaijani leader and other partners for their assistance in implementing this project.

“They are friends of France. I hope this goodwill will continue in the future”. Then they viewed Islamic art exhibition halls at Louvre Museum.

They were informed that Islamic Art represents the work, ideas and inspiration of a world culture which dates back to ancient times. The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world and houses one of the biggest and most comprehensive collections of Islamic art and artifacts in the world. Until recently, however, only approximately 10% of the 10,000 pieces held here could be displayed to the public.

Housed in their impressive new home, this greatly-prized collection of historical pieces are expected to be studied by all enthusiasts of Islamic Art. Through this groundbreaking addition to its existing public works, the Louvre will become an outstanding world platform where the grandeur and beauty of Islam`s ancient culture can be celebrated in its full glory.

The exhibition will be housed in a striking gallery space, two-thirds of which was constructed underground, within in the Cour Visconti, a large courtyard within the Louvre grounds.

More than 10,000 diverse pieces ranging from the 7th to 19th century will be on display in the Louvre`s new Islamic Art galleries, including glasswork, ceramics, Ottoman Empire art and one of the world`s most important collections of carpets.

Once completed and open to the public, this unprecedented project will provide a suitably inspiring home to a truly exceptional Islamic Art collection, recognized as one of the richest and most diverse world-wide.

Then, President Ilham Aliyev and Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva posed for photographs.

Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre—is one of the world`s largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square meters. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings.

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17.09.12
23:56

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has today met Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Total Christophe de Margerie in Paris.

They discussed Azerbaijan-Total cooperation in exploiting Absheron and Shahdeniz fields and realizing pipeline projects, as well as prospects for developing the bilateral relations.

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has today met Technip`s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Onshore/Offshore Philippe Barril in Paris.

They stressed Technip`s successful activity in Azerbaijan`s oil and gas sector, as well as the company`s role in the exploitation of the Shahdeniz-1 field and the realization of other projects.

They discussed prospects for expanding the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Technip, as well as new projects.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met Chairman of the Board and CEO of GDF Suez Gerard Mestrallet in Paris.

They discussed prospects for relations between Azerbaijan and GFD Suez, cooperation on Absheron gas field, as well as the issue of supplying the Azerbaijani population with world-standard drinking water.

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17:58

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on September 17 arrived in France for a working visit.

A guard of honor was lined up for the Azerbaijani President at Orly international airport decorated with the national flags of the two countries. Flowers were presented to Azerbaijani First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva. Then the President was escorted to the residence.

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11:45

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today left for France for a working visit.

At the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the Head of State was seen off by Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Chief of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev and Baku Mayor Hajibala Abutalybov.

President Ilham Aliyev heads to France for working visit