Azerbaijani President's visit to Cairo - in spotlight of Egyptian media PHOTO

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt and his negotiations with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi have been in the spotlight of the Egyptian influential newspapers and news websites, as well as TV channels.

The main points of the joint press statement of the Azerbaijani President and his Egyptian counterpart were unveiled in an extensive report by the Egyptian Middle East News Agency (MENA) about the visit, as well as in articles entitled “President of Azerbaijan hailed the high level of relations with Egypt”, “Leader of Azerbaijan called Egypt an important partner country”, published in such Egyptian newspapers having numerous readers such as Al-Ahram, Al-Jumhuriya, Youm 7, Akhbar el-Yom, Masrawy, Al-Dustour, according to Azertag.

Egyptian readers are informed about President Aliyev's statements that the current official visit, following last year's visit of the Egyptian president to Azerbaijan, will give impetus to the development of the Egypt-Azerbaijan relations and that the political dialogue between the two friendly countries is regular. President Aliyev said that the leaders agreed to continue holding the political dialogue.

According to the article, President Aliyev announced a discussion of processes in the South Caucasus with his Egyptian counterpart. The Azerbaijani President added that  Azerbaijan and Armenia have achieved some success in delimitating their state borders. A section of the state border stretching almost 12.7 kilometres has been agreed upon. Four villages of the Gazakh district of Azerbaijan, which had been under occupation for 30 years, were returned to Azerbaijan through negotiations. Assessing this as a positive fact, the President of Azerbaijan also expressed the opinion that there are good opportunities for progress in the negotiation process.

The Azerbaijani President also invited the Egyptian counterpart to the upcoming 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP29 in Baku. He expressed satisfaction that the invitation had been accepted, emphasising that he congratulated his colleague on Egypt's successful presidency of COP27. Informing that he had applied to learn from Egypt’s experience in this sphere, President Aliyev noted that the delegations of the two countries constantly negotiate.

President Aliyev’s official visit was widely covered in such newspapers and news websites as “Al-Shorouk”, “Al-Watan”, “Masrtimes”, “Maspero”, “Al-Qahera”, “El-Balad”. According to the articles of these media outlets, the Azerbaijani President supports the position of Cairo regarding the Palestinian issue.

“During the period of our chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement, the normalisation of the Palestine-Israel relations and the creation of an independent Palestinian state have always been in the center of attention, many events have been held. Azerbaijan's position is clear - an independent Palestinian state must be created, East Jerusalem must be its capital. It is necessary to stop the tragedy in Gaza as soon as possible, to stop the war, and all issues must be resolved through negotiations. I told President El-Sisi that we support Egypt's efforts in these spheres, and the initiatives put forward by Egypt must be taken into account,” President Aliyev was quoted as saying.

The Egyptian media outlets also covered President El-Sisi’s statements about ensuring peace and security in the South Caucasus. Readers are informed that the president of Egypt once again brought to the attention of his Azerbaijani counterpart the importance of efforts to ensure peace and security in the South Caucasus and declared support for these efforts. He added that these efforts will be a great contribution to the development of the regional countries and peoples.

According to the articles, the presidents of the two friendly countries emphasised the rapid development of economic, humanitarian and cultural ties, as well as the broad prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation. Thus, the sides discussed existing opportunities for cooperation in construction, transport, pharmaceutics, oil and infrastructure, and also noted the importance of the activity of the joint commission between Azerbaijan and Egypt and the process of organising the next meeting. A decision was made to hold another meeting of the commission soon.

The meeting of President Aliyev with Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb in Cairo as part of his official visit was also in the spotlight of media outlets of Egypt and other Arab countries. According to the articles in such newspapers as Al-Ahram, Al-Dustour, Al-Qahera, Asharq Al-Awsat (Saudi Arabia), as well as the reports shown on "Egypt 1" state television, Extra News, Nile 1 TV channels, President Aliyev emphasised during the meeting that the development of relations with Arab countries in general is one of the priority spheres of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. The President of Azerbaijan said that Baku and Al-Azhar took the initiative to organise another meeting of religious leaders within the COP29.

The public of Egypt and Arab countries is informed that Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb noted the high level of ties between Egypt and Azerbaijan. He expressed satisfaction that Azerbaijan has fully ensured its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Thanking the President of Azerbaijan for the invitation to COP29, Ahmed El-Tayeb said that he would be happy to take part in this event.

Reminding about the holding of the second Summit of World Religious Leaders in Baku, Ahmed El-Tayeb expressed personal gratitude to President Aliyev for Azerbaijan’s contribution to Islamic solidarity. He noted that joint work is being carried out to organise a meeting of religious leaders within the COP29.