- Dear Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, I sincerely welcome you to Azerbaijan again. Welcome to our country! You are paying an official visit to Azerbaijan. This is a manifestation of friendship and brotherhood between our peoples. Extensive negotiations have been held within the framework of the visit on current issues of the bilateral agenda, matters related to regional security and international problems. Many documents have been signed. Some were signed with our attendance, and more than 20 documents were signed between relevant agencies today. This creates a broader legal framework for our relationship. Of course, of these documents, I would like to particularly mention the Declaration on Strengthening Strategic Relations and Deepening of Allied Interaction between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which we have just signed. The title of this Declaration itself testifies to the importance of the document. We are not only strategic partners but also allies. Of course, this puts a special responsibility on us, and we are ready for this responsibility. The Declaration covers many aspects of our cooperation and will undoubtedly serve as a substantial basis for our future interaction.
We have identified ways to develop our cooperation in the international arena. We actively interact within the framework of leading international organizations, and this, of course, creates new preconditions for multilateral cooperation. In June, the ministers of foreign affairs and of transport of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkiye met in Baku. This is a new format of multilateral cooperation, and this cooperation has excellent prospects. The Joint Declaration also reflects the possible future development of multilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the five countries of Central Asia. This is also natural because our peoples' history, traditions and culture require closer interaction in all areas.
We have discussed the transportation and logistical sectors in detail today and given relevant instructions to government members to intensify this interaction. Because the Middle Corridor connecting our countries has excellent prospects, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have already established a modern infrastructure that enables the transportation of oversized cargo volumes. However, we have also identified future cooperation directions to increase the Middle Corridor's capacity further.
The Joint Declaration also mentioned the importance of connecting the East Zangezur region of Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. This will be a part of the Middle Corridor. I have informed Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich about our work in liberated territories.
I want to take this opportunity to once again express my gratitude to the President of Kazakhstan for the initiative to establish the Children’s Creativity Development Centre in the liberated city of Fuzuli. Today, a presentation of that center was held, and we saw again how sincere the attitude of Kazakhstan is to the problem of returning former internally displaced persons and how urgent this problem is for Kazakhstan. Thank you very much for this initiative. This is a manifestation of friendship, brotherhood and solidarity. I am sure that the Children’s Creativity Development Centre, named after Kurmangazy, the prominent son of the Kazakh people, will also be a center of Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan friendship.
I want to thank the President of Kazakhstan again for awarding me with the highest order of Kazakhstan – the “Altyn Kyran” Order, translated as the Golden Eagle. I view this as a sign of respect for the Azerbaijani people, a recognition of my efforts so far, and I will continue to make efforts for the development of brotherly relations between our countries and peoples.
Today, during our meeting with the President of Kazakhstan, I informed Mr. President in detail about the current state of the process of normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. I reaffirmed Azerbaijan's intention to create long-term and lasting peace in the South Caucasus region. At the same time, I expressed my gratitude for Kazakhstan’s continuous support of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity both during the occupation and after the Second Karabakh War within the framework of international institutions. We in Azerbaijan know and appreciate this very much. During our conversations and discussions today, we also touched upon the issue of increasing the trade turnover. In my opinion, our focus on priority directions of mutual activity within the field of transportation and logistics will allow us to carry out more export-import operations. I believe that there is tremendous potential there. I think the President of Kazakhstan announced the figure we aim for – a turnover worth 1 billion dollars. In my opinion, taking into account the intention of both sides to deepen cooperation, this is quite realistic.
Of course, we have also discussed other issues related to information and communication technologies and humanitarian cooperation. In other words, our agenda today is quite broad, and we see that the positions of our countries concur entirely in all directions. This once again shows that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are strategic partners and allies not only in words but also in deeds.
I want to express my gratitude to the President of Kazakhstan for visiting our country and for the attitude we have seen from him and the brotherly Kazakh people. I wish Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich the best of luck in all his initiatives on my behalf and on behalf of the Azerbaijani people. During the conversation, I also expressed my position on the reforms implemented in Kazakhstan, the reforms aimed at economic development and the steps aimed at strengthening the independence and sovereignty of Kazakhstan. In Azerbaijan, we fully support these reforms, but most importantly, they are supported by the people of Kazakhstan. The people see that the President's words and deeds do not contradict each other. They see the results of Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich's activities for the further development of Kazakhstan. As your friends and brothers, we are pleased about this and want to wish the brotherly people of Kazakhstan success, prosperity and peace.
Thank you.
