Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq Hoshyar Zebari

President Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq Hoshyar Zebari.

Minister Hoshyar Zebari conveyed greetings on behalf of President of Iraq Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to the President of Azerbaijan. Hoshyar Zebari thanked the President of Azerbaijan for the activities of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Iraq as part of an international peacekeeping mission. Stressing that the two nations have shared close and friendly relations and a common culture for many years, the Iraqi Foreign Minister pointed to the need for a more active expansion of these relations at present. Speaking about the need for the operation of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Iraq, the Minister stressed the importance of this from the standpoint of development of bilateral relations.

President Ilham Aliyev said there were good opportunities for a strong partnership between the two countries. The President expressed his confidence that the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Iraq would be opened in the near future. Indicating that the relations between the two peoples had always been based on friendship, President Aliyev described the participation of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in operations in Iraq as Azerbaijan’s assistance to the friendly Iraqi people. The President said he shared in the grief of the Iraqi people over the numerous human casualties in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in Iraq and asked the minister to convey his condolences to the people of Iraq. Expressing his satisfaction over the successful cooperation between the two countries in various international organizations, President Aliyev thanked Iraq for its support of Azerbaijan in the UN General Assembly discussion on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and during Azerbaijan’s election to the UN Security Council. The President also expressed his confidence that the visit by Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to Azerbaijan would further expand cooperation between the two countries.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked the Iraqi minister for the greetings from President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and asked him to communicate his greetings to the President and Prime Minister of Iraq.