Speech by Ilham Aliyev at the official reception hosted in honor of President of the Republic of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski

- Dear Mr. President!

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen!

Mr. President, let me warmly welcome you to Azerbaijan again. We are attaching great importance to your visit. I am absolutely sure that your visit will be successful and its results will play an extremely important role in the development of Azerbaijani-Polish relations.

Our peoples have maintained relations with each other for centuries, and now these relations have created a wonderful cultural and historical foundation. I can say that the Poles have taken an active part in the activities of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. In 1918, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic emerged for the first time in the Muslim East, and Poles were represented in its government. Prior to that, specialists and architects from Poland had made a valuable contribution to the development of Azerbaijan and Baku. In 1892, famous Polish architect Jozef Goslawski was appointed as chief architect of Baku. It was under his supervision and with his direct participation that a number of beautiful buildings appeared in Baku. Architect Goslawski and another Polish architect Ploshko made a great contribution to making our city even more beautiful. Their heritage is still visible in Azerbaijan and Baku today. The major restoration work under way in Baku has breathed new life into the buildings they have created.

At the same time, Poles have contributed to Azerbaijan’s oil industry. Renowned engineer Pavel Potocki took an active part in the development of Azerbaijan’s oil industry and he is still remembered in our country.

At present, representatives of Azerbaijan’s Polish community are respected citizens of the country. They are playing a role in the development of our relations. As I have mentioned, they are respected citizens of Azerbaijan, but at the same time they are Poles and are, of course, very attached much to their historical homeland.

In short, there is a solid historical foundation for the development of our relations. We are building our relationship on this solid foundation. Today, Polish-Azerbaijani relations are important not only as a relationship between two countries. They are also important to the development of the region. In a broader sense, they are important for the cooperation between Baltic and Caspian basins. I am confident that your visit, the agreements reached and documents signed will successfully lead our relations forward.

Today, we have also dedicated considerable attention to economic issues. The Polish-Azerbaijani business forum in itself is a great event because it shows that the mutual interest in the economic sphere is also quite high. I do hope that the forum we have participated in will have good results, and we will soon hear about joint economic initiatives. At least this is what we want and hope to achieve.

Also in the focus today are relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan. During Poland’s presidency in the European Union, the EU-Azerbaijan relations will develop even more rapidly. There is enough evidence of that. The relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan are rapidly developing and covering different areas. Of course, this relationship began with the energy sector. But today we are seeing that they are having a positive impact on all other areas.

At the same time, Azerbaijan is ready to play a part in the energy security on the European continent. There has been a fair amount of negotiations on this subject, declarations and other documents have been signed. I do hope that all the necessary documents, including the transit agreement, will be signed by the end of this year and the European market will thus provide its opportunities for Azerbaijan’s gas resources. It's a win-win initiative the implementation of which will only benefit both sides.

We have also focused on regional security today. I reiterated Azerbaijan’s position on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. I also updated President Komorowski on the current stage in negotiations. Nagorno-Karabakh is a native and historical part of Azerbaijan. The people of Azerbaijan have lived and built on these lands for centuries. Even the word "Karabakh" is of Azerbaijani origin, all the monuments and place names there have Azerbaijani roots.

Nagorno Karabakh is also an inalienable part of Azerbaijan from the standpoint of international law. When Azerbaijan was admitted to the United Nations, Nagorno-Karabakh was part of it. I think there are opportunities to resolve the issue today, international law should prevail to the full extent. Four UN Security Council resolutions must be executed, decisions and resolutions of the European Union, the European Parliament, the OSCE must be implemented and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity must be restored.

Mr. President, let me warmly welcome you again. Your visit is of great importance. We are attaching great attention and importance to it. I am glad that the visit has been very successful. I am confident that tomorrow will also be very successful, and you will return home with pleasant and good impressions.

I am raising this glass to the health of the President of Poland, Mr. Komorowski, to the friendly Polish people and to the development of Polish-Azerbaijani relations.

Thank you.