Tashkent hosts first meeting of Azerbaijani-Uzbek High Intergovernmental Council PHOTO/UPDATED

The inaugural meeting of the Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan High Intergovernmental Council was held in Tashkent, with the participation of Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The president of Uzbekistan addressed the meeting first, Caliber.Az reports.

Speech by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev

- Dear Ilham Heydarovich.

Dear participants of today's meeting.

Let me warmly welcome you, dear Ilham Heydarovich, and members of the Azerbaijani delegation, our brothers, in Uzbekistan. Once again, I am pleased to welcome you to Uzbekistan. You are welcome to Uzbekistan.

I would like to emphasize that your state visit is in fact a historic one. First of all, today we will sign a treaty, as we mentioned at the meeting in a limited format today, on allied relations. In a matter of a few years, together with you, we managed to raise Uzbek-Azerbaijani relations to the highest level of interstate interaction. This is a real success. And I think that the peoples, our people will hear that we will sign the Treaty on Allied Relations. This will only serve to bring our two peoples even closer together. The key thing is that we have brought our countries closer together, and, as I said, our peoples do treat each other like brothers. Each of our meetings brings our peoples even closer together, and I am pleased to say that your truly historic visit to Uzbekistan is taking place today.

Secondly, we are holding the first meeting of the High Intergovernmental Council. I believe that the Council, chaired by the heads of state, is the most effective mechanism for advancing our multifaceted cooperation and enriching it with concrete content. Because every time we meet, we give detailed instructions with a pencil in our hands, and this time has been no exception. In the limited format, we have elaborated everything in detail. Today we will talk about it in an expanded meeting and make joint decisions that will be implemented before our next meeting. I would like to note that great results in the modern world are achieved when there is political will and mutual support. We have both the will of both presidents and support from both sides. I think our teams already see and feel it.

At the beginning, I would like to sincerely congratulate you, dear Ilham Heydarovich, on the ongoing successful reforms in Azerbaijan. We, as close neighbors and brothers, rejoice at your successes. We see and sincerely rejoice at the dynamic development of your country. You have managed to realize the strategy of economic diversification, when sustainable growth is ensured through new industries and infrastructure in Azerbaijan. All this leads to a steady improvement in the well-being of your population. The country's international authority is growing. This year, Azerbaijan will host the global climate summit, one of the largest international events in the world. It is the first time such a summit will be held in our vast region. This has never happened before. And this once again confirms the recognition of the effectiveness of your foreign policy course. I wish you great success. We have talked about it, and we will always be by your side, we will also prepare for this summit very seriously.

In the presence of our delegations, I would like to mention again your historic role in restoration of the territorial integrity of your country and the return of ancestral Azerbaijani lands, dear Ilham Heydarovich. You have fulfilled the great dream of your father and your people. Today, Karabakh is reviving right before our eyes and turning into a prosperous region. I saw it with my own eyes and rejoiced at it while in Fuzuli and Shusha.

Major social infrastructure and industrial projects are also underway. We discussed in detail in a limited format the possibilities of expanding cooperation on the development of our territories, agreed to adopt a separate program, a road map, and to hold the third forum of regions. We also intend to set up tourist complexes in the capitals as well. We have already talked about this.

Dear members of delegations, the Uzbek-Azerbaijani cooperation has significantly expanded over the past few years. Close contacts have been established between parliaments, governments, ministers and agencies. Meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission and Business Council, forums, exhibitions and cultural events are held on a regular basis. Partnership between business circles is expanding. I am sincerely glad that Ilham Heydarovich has invited business leaders from Azerbaijan to our meeting. They are serious business people. I think the result will not take long. There will be a serious result, I am sure that such a dialog will be very productive.

In general, giving an assessment to the current level of bilateral relations, I would like to emphasize that tremendous work has been done together. However, there is still more to be done, because we already know each other, and so does the business community, so do the companies, ministers and agencies. When we went through the official part, the two presidents know the ministers very well, this also shows that when we meet often, there are tangible results.

Next year, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. We should approach this date with serious results. In this regard, I would like to focus on the main tasks. First, I propose to prepare a schedule of extensive political contacts and exchanges for rhythmic work on the entire agenda for the whole year. In addition, our foreign ministries are developing a program of events for the upcoming landmark date. Secondly, we have agreed to declare next year, if you support Ilham Heydarovich, as I have already said at the meeting in a limited format, as a Year of Economic Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan and adopt a comprehensive program covering 20 priority areas, which we also seriously discussed in a limited format. There are tasks on multiplying the volume of our turnover and moving to a new phase of industrial cooperation, including the implementation of projects in third countries. We also had a very serious discussion about this. For our meeting we have prepared a portfolio of promising projects worth over 2 billion dollars. Today we will discuss their implementation in detail with business representatives.

In addition, a joint investment fund has been operating effectively. As you said, if there are projects, we will expand this fund on both sides as well, because it is a very good support for business and for the implementation of real projects. I believe that this tool of project support should run like clockwork, because they are working. Today we will listen to the business community, we will support them in this as well. Thirdly, it is necessary to strengthen interconnection between our countries through the implementation of transport and communication, energy and other infrastructure projects. Active work is already underway in the multilateral format. I fully support such cooperation. I also believe it is important to increase the frequency of flights, to make procedures for ground and air transportation as easy as possible, and to introduce digital solutions. We have also talked about this in a limited format.

Fourth, we will need to continue an active exchange in the areas of culture and art, education, health care, youth and information policy, and sports. Our ministers responsible for these areas should meet on a regular basis.

A joint concert of masters of arts will be held today, including the participation of legendary cultural figures Farrukh Zakirov and Polad Bulbuloglu, whom we recently awarded the title of People's Artists of our countries together with honorable Ilham Heydarovich.

In addition, we propose to launch a mechanism of regular meetings of rectors of leading universities of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

Dear Ilham Heydarovich, at one of our meetings in Baku, as I mentioned at the meeting in a limited format, we talked about the important information and analytical support for the development of bilateral relations, the implementation of joint projects to deeply analyze and unlock the potential of new opportunities of our cooperation. The head of one of the leading centers of economic analysis is attending our meeting today. He will go, if you give your permission, with his team directly to Azerbaijan next week, after the holidays perhaps – we have Independence Day. After the holidays, he will go there not for one week, but for 10 days, if you don't mind. He will make a good economic analysis of what we can develop together in the future, in which sectors, apart from these 20, we can still identify other resources and reserves. He and his team will soon visit Baku to prepare such a study together with Azerbaijani partners. I do hope that it will be a good support for the future.

So, dear Ilham Heydarovich, this is all I wanted to say. We have had a very detailed discussion in a limited format. I am pleased to give you the floor.

x x x

Then, the President of Azerbaijan addressed the meeting.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Thank you very much, Mr. Shavkat Miromonovich, my dear brother. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude once again for the invitation. It is a great pleasure to visit brotherly Uzbekistan again. I am delighted to see you again.

As you mentioned, we have already discussed the extensive agenda of our relations in a limited format, outlined new areas of cooperation, and, of course, in an expanded format and within the framework of the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Council, we will address important issues of our relations today.

I would like to express my particular gratitude for your remarks on the restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and also my special thanks for having visited the liberated territories more than once. Of course, there is also special gratitude from all residents of the city of Fuzuli, from all residents of Azerbaijan for the help in restoration of liberated territories. This was the first gift to Azerbaijan in the restoration of infrastructure from a foreign state. The school, which bears the name of Mirzo Ulugbek, was opened exactly one year ago. On this day, on August 23, we were in Fuzuli and Shusha. About 500 pupils are already going to this school. As residents keep returning, the number will increase.

The relations between our countries have passed all the tests of time, and today these relations have reached the highest level. As you noted, we now have allied relations – there is nothing higher than that. We have achieved this in a relatively short period of time by demonstrating political will on both sides and by bringing our countries and peoples as closer together as possible. I am confident that both in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, the public in our countries is closely following the progress we are making and rejoicing along with us.

I would like to express my special gratitude for respecting the memory of Heydar Aliyevich Aliyev. Two years ago, when I visited Tashkent, we opened a park named after him, his bas-relief together with you. Yesterday, visiting this place again, I thanked you for that deep inside again.

Of course, I would like to express words of admiration for Uzbekistan's development. I have visited both Khiva and Samarkand, and I also visited Samarkand many years ago. My recent visit is further evidence of the wise policy you are pursuing in the country's development. This is evident in the transformation of cities, the capital and regions of Uzbekistan are flourishing. Today, Uzbekistan is a reputable member of the international community. Your country has a strong say not only in its region but also globally. All of this, of course, is underpinned by economic growth. You have managed to completely restructure economic relations in the country and modernize this and indeed all other sectors.

I would also like to specifically congratulate you on the historic victory of the athletes of brotherly Uzbekistan. We rejoiced at their victories just as we did in our own. Eight gold medals, first place among Muslim countries, and 13th place globally – this historic achievement testifies to the great attention you have given to the development of sports.

Within the framework of today's meeting we will hear, of course, from members of our delegations. I would like to emphasize the importance, as you noted, of holding the climate conference. Of course, we are looking forward to seeing you and working in a bilateral format. The conference is indeed an important event, but significant work will also be carried out next year when we will essentially chair this process. Of course, there are a lot of climate-related issues in our region and Central Asia, and we are ready to actively cooperate bilaterally. In principle, this cooperation has already begun.

So, I would like to thank you once again for the invitation, for your attention, and I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to make a state visit to Azerbaijan next year. While we will see each other again at COP in November, we look forward to welcoming you on a state visit next year as well. Thank you.