On April 22, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held an expanded meeting with President of the Republic of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs.
Welcoming the delegation members, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:
- Mr. President.
Members of the delegation.
Dear guests.
Welcome once again. We had excellent discussions with Mr. President on different items and will continue our work with the delegations. I know that a lot has been done prior to the visit, including the session of the Intergovernmental Commission, which was very successful. Also today's business forum, I'm sure, will yield good results.
There's a big mutual interest to work together, with both having very good political ties. Today once again, it was reconfirmed. We need to address practical issues of our cooperation to enhance trade and mutual investments, issues related to energy, connectivity, digitalization – all what we're actively promoting here in Azerbaijan.
Of course, we largely discussed the political developments in our region, and we'll continue our discussions with Mr. President. I'm sure that the members of the delegations will also use this time in order to address the most important issues of our bilateral partnership. I'm very grateful to Mr. President for accepting my invitation. I'm very glad to see him again. He was many times in Baku in a previous capacity, and I always enjoyed our meetings, and I wish you a pleasant stay in Azerbaijan this time. Welcome once again.
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Then, President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs said:
- Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you very much for the invitation and the very warm hospitality.
As I told you at our meeting, it's been almost nine years since I last visited Baku, it was in 2017, and the city is unrecognizable. I think the developments that we have seen so far are impressive, and I just want to congratulate you and the people of Azerbaijan on the development, both economic and political, and on the resolving of longstanding issues.
As you rightly pointed out, we already discussed a couple of issues at our tête-à-tête meeting on political developments, regional security, both in the Middle East as well as in Europe. And what I want to confirm and to reiterate is that Latvia sees Azerbaijan as a strategic partner and friend. We see the real value in our political and economic cooperation. As you can see from my delegation, we have many people even in the second row. I couldn't cut the delegation because everyone is interested in being here and discussing very practical issues. But I also want to commend the work of the Intergovernmental Commission.
