Azerbaijani, Egyptian presidents enhance ties, tackle regional challenges in joint press statements

Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, made press statements.

First, the Egyptian President made his statement, AZERTAC reports.

                                     Statement by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

- Your Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

I am happy to welcome Your Excellency and the delegation accompanying you. Your visit serves to strengthen our bilateral relations and will pave the way for that. I would also like to sincerely congratulate you on your re-election as President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. I also heartily congratulate you on hosting the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Today's talks with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan serve to strengthen bilateral relations in various fields. At the same time, we have discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest. We also discussed potential cooperation opportunities in the fields of construction, transport, pharmaceuticals, oil and infrastructure. We also noted the activity of joint commission between the two countries and the importance of organizing its next meeting. We decided to hold the next meeting of the commission shortly, so that our relations in the economic and commercial sphere could further develop.

Ladies and gentlemen, regional issues were in the center of attention during the discussions with His Excellency, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In discussions with Mr. President, we went over Egypt's efforts to increase the volume of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people in Gaza and emphasized the need for the establishment of an independent Palestinian State within the borders as of June 4, 1967.

I told Mr. President about the importance of efforts to ensure peace and security in the South Caucasus and the fact that we support these efforts. These efforts will make a great contribution to the development of the countries and peoples of the region. I also informed Mr. President that in the next stage we will witness the development of bilateral relations in all fields.

Mr. President, the floor is yours.

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Then, the President of Azerbaijan made the statement.

                                    Statement by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. President, Your Excellency.

First of all, I would like to thank you for the invitation and hospitality. I am very happy to be visiting your country with ancient history.

This visit will contribute a great deal to the development of Egyptian-Azerbaijani relations. Last year, we welcomed President El-Sisi in Azerbaijan, and this year I am visiting Egypt. This shows that our political dialogue is of regular nature. We agreed to continue this political dialogue. I have invited President El-Sisi to the COP29 conference in Baku, and I am glad that my invitation has been accepted. At the same time, I stated that Egypt's presidency and hosting of COP27 was a great success. On this occasion, I congratulated my colleague. I also enquired about Egypt's experience in this field and our representatives are in constant contact.

During the discussion of international issues, it became clear that we do not have any differences of opinion. Our opinions overlap on all international matters. As a matter of fact, we actively work within the framework of international organizations, including the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and we make joint efforts to strengthen Islamic solidarity. As you may know, with the support of Egypt, Azerbaijan has chaired the Non-Aligned Movement for four years. As a result of this chairmanship, the Movement has acquired greater opportunities.

The settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli relations and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State were always in the center of attention during our chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement. A number of events were held, and Azerbaijan's position is unequivocal – an independent Palestinian State must be established and East Jerusalem should be its capital. Today's tragedy in Gaza must be stopped as soon as possible, the war must be stopped and all issues must be resolved through negotiations. I told President El-Sisi that we support Egypt's efforts in these directions and that the initiatives put forward by Egypt should be taken into account.

At the same time, we also discussed the developments in the South Caucasus. I said that Azerbaijan and Armenia had achieved certain successes in defining their state borders. Almost 12.7 kilometers of the state border has been agreed upon. Four villages of Gazakh district of Azerbaijan, which were occupied for more than 30 years, have been returned to Azerbaijan through negotiations, and we consider this a positive development. At the same time, I think there are good opportunities for progress in the negotiations. In any case, Azerbaijan is ready for it.

I also stated that Azerbaijan had fully restored its state sovereignty and territorial integrity in September of last year. Of course, this will be an important factor in the normalization of relations with Armenia. It was also brought to my colleague's attention that for almost two years, there had been calm on the Azerbaijan-Armenia conditional border with no ceasefire violations recorded.

As far as bilateral relations are concerned, the increase of the volume of trade is, of course, a positive development. If we look at the statistics, we will see that the turnover has increased several times. However, we are not yet pleased with the absolute numbers, and I am sure that the documents signed today and the agreements reached will help us in this direction as well. I am sure that, first of all, it will be possible to achieve good results in the fields of energy, production of renewable energy, oil industry, pharmaceuticals, aluminum industry and other fields.

Today, we also exchanged views on new transport corridors. Both East-West and North-South transport corridors pass through the territory of Azerbaijan. The entire infrastructure has been put in place in the territory of Azerbaijan, and thus great opportunities for cooperation in the field of transport and logistics are opening up.

Members of the delegations informed us about the next meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission. The last meeting of the commission was held in Azerbaijan two years ago. The next meeting of the commission will probably be held this year, and I am sure that all the instructions given by the presidents will be seriously discussed and we will thus take the next important step in the direction of cooperation.

Dear Mr. President, Your Excellency, I would like to thank you once again for the hospitality you have extended to me and the delegation. I am sure that we will meet again in Baku within the framework of COP29 in November.