President Aliyev: Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan to coordinate on Middle Corridor infrastructure PHOTO / UPDATED

President Ilham Aliyev has announced that Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan will intensify coordination on developing the Middle Corridor — a key transcontinental trade route linking Central Asia to Europe via the Caspian Sea.

Speaking during a joint press statement with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Baku on July 2, Aliyev stressed the importance of aligning transport policies and infrastructure projects to accommodate increasing cargo volumes and ensure seamless connectivity across the region, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

The President of Azerbaijan made the statement first.

Statement by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Shavkat Miromonovich, my dear brother, dear guests, dear friends,

It is a significant day in the history of relations between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan today. The state visit of the President of Uzbekistan is taking place, as it should be, in an atmosphere of brotherhood and mutual understanding. Today, both within the framework of the bilateral meeting and within the framework of the Interstate Council meeting, we discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation and once again confirmed the strategic and allied nature of our relations. Last year in Tashkent, we signed the Treaty on Allied Relations, which is the highest and most significant document in the relations between any countries. We have been officially allies for about a year now and have demonstrated this through active cooperation in the international arena, mutual support, as well as specific plans and projects that we are implementing in many areas.

Today, starting our meeting, I, first of all, congratulated Shavkat Miromonovich on my own behalf and on behalf of all the people of Azerbaijan on a historic achievement – the qualification of the Uzbekistan national football team for the World Cup. I said that this achievement was not accidental. This is a continuation of the glorious sporting victories that Uzbek athletes demonstrate in the international arena, including historic achievements at the Summer Olympic Games. And, of course, this is the result of the wise policy of the leadership and the President of Uzbekistan on educating young people and developing the country.

We are watching with great interest and joy the rapid development of Uzbekistan, the implementation of large-scale reforms in all areas. We are glad that the authority of Uzbekistan in the international arena is growing year after year, the economic potential is growing, and many issues of social life are being resolved. All this is the result of the thoughtful policy of the President and the leadership of Uzbekistan. All this is manifested in specific programs. We, as friends and brothers, are sincerely happy about this.

Today, reports were heard from different ministers on various areas of our cooperation. Today, we once again confirmed our intention to significantly increase both the turnover and the volume of mutual investments. The joint investment fund, which was established some time ago, is already provided with projects. Today, it was reported that more than 10 projects are already at the stage of investment decision-making. But, of course, we see this only as a beginning, because the authorized capital of the investment fund is $500 million. Our plans exceed this figure several times, and I am confident that the joint implementation of projects in energy, the hotel business, construction, agriculture, and many other areas — projects that already have a specific prospect, which have been agreed upon, and contracts that have been signed — will definitely lead to a significant increase in mutual investments. And this reflects our intentions. This corresponds to the spirit and nature of the fraternal relations between our countries.

Both Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, in addition to the fact that we are actively investing in the development of the economies of our countries, are also already entering friendly countries with our investments. For us, investments in Uzbekistan are a priority. First, because it is a friendly and fraternal country. Secondly, because, as a result of the thoughtful reforms of the President of Uzbekistan, a very favorable investment climate has been created in the country, which is the responsibility not only of us, but also of leading international financial institutions and many countries. It is no coincidence that Uzbekistan is a very attractive country for investment today.

We also went over the transport and logistics sector in detail, taking into account today's opportunities, as well as future projects that will lead to the creation of a more extensive and diversified transport infrastructure in the Central Asian region with access through the Caspian to Azerbaijan and then in the western direction. We agreed not only to continue coordinating our projects in a bilateral format so that our infrastructure is ready to receive large volumes of cargo, but also to conduct regular dialogue and work on coordinating transport policy in a multilateral format with our neighboring countries, because the Middle Corridor project has several branches that are either in the operational stage, in the development stage, or under construction. And, of course, the Azerbaijani transport infrastructure, which will ultimately receive cargo along all diversified routes of the Middle Corridor in Central Asia, must be ready – I mean the Azerbaijani transport infrastructure – for receiving a significantly larger volume of cargo.

We are grateful to our Uzbek friends for their advisory assistance and for investing in projects related to agriculture, primarily cotton growing and sericulture. The experience of Uzbek companies in this area is very valuable to us. We also specifically discussed large-scale projects for the development of agricultural enterprises, including enterprises for processing agricultural products both in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

We are particularly grateful for the assistance in the revival of Karabakh. Uzbekistan was the first country and President Mirziyoyev was the first leader in the world who immediately, on his own initiative, provided assistance in the restoration of the Karabakh region. And the first object of social educational infrastructure is this school, which was built by Uzbekistan, and Shavkat Miromonovich and I opened it, which bears the name of the great son of the Uzbek people, Mirzo Ulugbek, and children who have returned to the land of their ancestors are now studying there. The second significant project in the territories liberated from Armenian occupation is a garment factory in the city of Khankendi. Again, thanks to the investments and technologies of our Uzbek brothers, an enterprise has been established there. More than 200 people are working there today, and in the future, the number of people working there will increase several times. So this is assistance in social infrastructure, assistance in creating industrial production, as well as providing employment. We are very grateful for this and appreciate it very much.

Today, after today's event, our work will be continued. We will jointly open a new building of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Azerbaijan. And again, I want to express my gratitude to Shavkat Miromonovich for deciding to construct this building. The history of this place is already quite ancient.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev: 2001.

President Ilham Aliyev: This place in the city center was allocated by Heydar Aliyevich. Embassies of large countries are located there in the same area. However, for at least two decades, no, perhaps a little less than that, it just stood there. I will say quite frankly that there were many hunters for this place. I have been told more than once that, you see, Uzbekistan is not building an embassy, the place is good and here is the project. I have told them to get rid of all the projects, this place was allocated to the brotherly country by my father. When a decision is made, I am sure that this building will be built. And as soon as Shavkat Miromonovich learned about this, as soon as we began to actively interact, he made the decision and a beautiful building has been built. But this will not be the only part of Uzbek land here. “Uzbekistan” Park, which will also be established in one of the central places of the city of Baku, the most promising one, a project of modern urbanism called White City, right in the center of this project. “Uzbekistan” Park will be established on an area of almost 5 hectares. The presentation of this project was made during my state visit last year. During this time, work has been carried out to coordinate the project, allocate land, infrastructure, the territory was cleared of the already obsolete buildings. And I am sure that a beautiful corner of Uzbekistan will be created in the city of Baku in a short time. This will also be a place for our residents, where they will come with pleasure, as well as for foreign tourists. The only, perhaps, downside here is that if a foreign visitor comes to Baku and goes to this park, they may not want to go to Uzbekistan later, because they will see everything here. This, of course, is a joke. This is further evidence of such a brotherly attitude towards us. I am sure that there will be many more such projects. There will be more projects of tourist infrastructure in Uzbekistan. We still have a lot of work before the end of the day. So we will inform the public of our countries.

After our first meeting with Shavkat Miromonovich, we instructed members of the government to do their job with dignity and know that we will monitor and check it regularly, which we are doing. The visits are regular in nature, then we often meet within the framework of international organizations, summits and other conferences, and we often communicate by phone, so everyone knows that all instructions must be carried out. Once again, I want to express gratitude to my dear brother for such a good attitude towards our country and for this visit. Tomorrow we will be in Karabakh together. This will not be the first visit of Shavkat Miromonovich to Karabakh, so we will continue working together as friends and brothers. Once again, dear Shavkat Miromonovich, you are welcome.

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Then, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev made the statement.

Statement by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev

- Dear Ilham Heydarovich, I would like to once again express my sincere gratitude for such a warm welcome and hospitality because from the very first minutes we, both myself and members of the delegation, have felt such a warm welcome. We have come to see our brothers, and the whole atmosphere today feels like home. The country is developing. I see tremendous changes. As close brothers, friends and a very close people, we in Uzbekistan are very happy about the successes of Azerbaijan.

The economy is growing, investments are increasing and all of this are the fruit of the painstaking, daily efforts of the President of Azerbaijan, my dear friend and brother Ilham Heydarovich. We study, analyze and adopt many of the things that have been done here in Azerbaijan. After the historic visit of Ilham Heydarovich last year, we signed the Treaty on Allied Relations. You know, this is the greatest achievement in diplomacy and politics. Everything we agree on, we follow through and implement.

Today's visit is also of historic nature. We are opening the Embassy. This speaks volumes. This is a completely different project. I have discussed it more than once, because it must meet the standards of Azerbaijan. I hope we will open the embassy today and Ilham Heydarovich will give his assessment. The builders tried very hard, because we see how Baku and all the cities are built. Karabakh has just been mentioned. When we started building the school in Fuzuli, we had to be worthy of other Azerbaijani projects. We wanted it to be the most beautiful place for children. I think we have achieved this, because when we were opening it, I saw the children's eyes, the joy of the children. And this is the greatest thing we are achieving together.

We discussed all issues during our talks – international, regional, bilateral and sensitive issues – because in today's turbulent world we need to consult and exchange opinions with each other. I am pleased to tell you that we have similar views on serious issues. We will promote these opinions at all venues where necessary because today we need to unite and resolve issues that await the peoples of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. We discussed each area in detail. This includes energy, transport communications, and the mining industry. We talked about cultural exchanges, about educational exchanges. You know, I am very satisfied. I also told Ilham Heydarovich that when we talk on the phone, in meetings at international venues, no matter what the situation is there, we talk about bilateral tasks.

Today, I would like to say with satisfaction that there are tangible results. All our agreements are being implemented. Today, we also set an ambitious goal. Our portfolio is quite impressive. Our fund is operational and many projects are being brought to fruition. There are real results. So, we have resolved all these issues.

I want to tell the respected journalists present here that we have a very ambitious program for the future. I am grateful to Ilham Heydarovich again for supporting our entrepreneurs who are in Azerbaijan. All our joint projects in Azerbaijan are receiving support. You know, there is mutual support between the two countries. Today I am happy to say that there was a “Bakhshi” competition in Khiva last month and an ensemble from Azerbaijan won the Grand Prix. This also shows that we are moving forward together.

I am very grateful to Ilham Heydarovich for our football team. This is not accidental, because Ilham Heydarovich and I talk a lot about sports, and I want to congratulate the Azerbaijani mini-football team once again. They became world champions. I congratulate them. We are happy about the success of the Azerbaijani football players, because we decided that we will approach FIFA together, so that Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan can co-host the world football championship in this category. I think this will be a shared achievement for our youth.

I would like to once again note with satisfaction that I am very pleased with our negotiations, our achievements, our promising solutions on all issues of our joint work.

I am once again grateful to my dear brother Ilham Heydarovich for our meaningful, friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation. Ilham Heydarovich treats us differently. We appreciate all this. Uzbekistan and the President of Uzbekistan treat you in exactly the same way. Therefore, we have good results. I am sure that there will be good prospects for the future.

Thank you very much.

17:42

On July 2, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, Ilham Aliyev and Shavkat Mirziyoyev, delivered a joint press statement, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

Notably, President Mirziyoyev arrived in Baku on a state visit earlier today, July 2.