Azerbaijani president's rep says country considers China strategic partner

Azerbaijan considers China as its strategic partner, Representative of the Azerbaijani president for special assignments Elchin Amirbayov said in an interview with China's Phoenix TV channel.

During the interview, Amirbayov stressed Azerbaijan's desire to deepen and strengthen the political dialogue with China, Report informs.

"We think that we have an excellent quality of the high level of dialogue because Xi and President Aliyev have developed excellent bilateral relations; they have met several times and, of course, it has influenced the quality of this relationship," Amirbayov said.

He noted that China's role in international relations is very important as the country is an outstanding member of the UN Security Council and a friendly country for Azerbaijan.

He also added that 2022 marked 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and China.

"And, of course, it is not a coincidence that our leaders have met in Samarkand [in September 2022]. And I think that today's very high quality of political dialogue between our two nations is due to the personal quality of the relationship between our leaders. They have, of course, very strong chemistry on a number of issues not only related to bilateral issues but also issues which pertain to international agenda," the official stressed.

According to Amirbayov, the leaders of the two countries agreed that it is necessary to do more to diversify economic and trade relations and also agreed to maintain regular contacts at the level of leaders, members of government, and parliaments.

He also noted the importance of Chinese people considering Azerbaijan as a new attractive tourist destination, stressing that there should be a direct airlink restored quite soon between the two nations so that they can have people-to-people contacts.

Amirbayov also commented on the role of the One Road, One Belt initiative.

"Azerbaijan is known as a traditional provider of energy, oil and gas and you know that Azerbaijan has been playing a very important role in ensuring the energy security, for example, of the European continent," he said.

"I think that both leaders have agreed that we can do more in order to benefit from this initiative that was launched ten years ago by China - One Belt, One Road initiative," he said.

Amirbayov noted that because of its geographic location, Azerbaijan has played the role of a linkage between East and West and it has been very active in making sure that the Trans-Caspian international transport corridor is functioning and also built the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad which unites the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea.

According to him, this infrastructure could be very much used to implement the so-called Middle Corridor and which could be harmonized with the One Belt, One Road initiative which Azerbaijan fully supports.

The interview also touched on the growing interest in studying Chinese in Azerbaijan. The representative of the Azerbaijani president noted that today many representatives of Azerbaijani youth show interest in studying this language.

“If we pay attention to the number of Azerbaijani students seeking to go to this wonderful country to study Chinese language and culture in depth, we can make sure that development in this field is evident. Chinese language centres are successfully functioning in Azerbaijan,” he pointed out.

In his interview, Amirbayov underlined that since the 1990s Azerbaijan was subjected to the aggressor policy of Armenia, as a result of which 20 per cent of its lands were under occupation for about thirty years. He stated that as a result of the occupation, more than one million Azerbaijanis were expelled from their homeland, and the eighth part of the country's territory was completely destroyed.

“However, Azerbaijan, having won a glorious victory in the Second Garabagh War, liberated its historical lands from occupation. Having restored historical justice and territorial integrity, Azerbaijan has proposed a peace agenda based on five basic principles in order to turn the page of enmity and establish peaceful and good-neighbourly relations with Armenia. Today, there are excellent chances for normalisation of relations as Azerbaijan believes that the region deserves a better future,” he added.

Referring to the negotiation process aimed at signing a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the representative noted the even greater intensification of the process since May 2023 but stressed that this is not enough to achieve sustainable peace.

"The statement by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on recognising the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan gives optimism to the peace process. This important element allows us to say that we are not so far from signing the main agreement,” he stressed.

Amirbayov also spoke about the process of return of former Azerbaijani internally displaced persons expelled from their native lands and subjected to ethnic cleansing, and stated that the Great Return process has successfully started.

He noted that Azerbaijan expects Armenia to fully fulfil all its obligations.