"From now on Latvia and Azerbaijan are considered strategic partners" - Ilham Aliyev

  18 July 2017    Read: 2574
"From now on Latvia and Azerbaijan are considered strategic partners" - Ilham Aliyev
"My visit is a very important step in the development of bilateral relations. From now on, Latvia and Azerbaijan are considered strategic partners. Today we signed the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership between our countries. This cooperation is at a very high level, and the declaration covers many areas, including economic and trade cooperation," said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the Latvia-Azerbaijan business forum held in Riga, AzVision.az reports.
The Head of State noted that several business contracts will be signed during the business forum: "These contracts will reflect what we discussed this morning with Mr. President. Due to the fact that we have different climatic conditions, our economies do not compete with each other. These are the economies that can provide each other with different goods. There are good opportunities for increasing our exports to Latvia and importing from Latvia to Azerbaijan. We basically import what you produce and export, and you import what we produce and export".

Azerbaijani President stressed that another important part of our economic cooperation can become a mutual investment: "Thus, we come to a very important point. We have all the basic prerequisites in order to have a good portfolio. These are strong political ties. Business is very sensitive, and businessmen usually invest in a stable environment. Therefore, strong political and friendly relations between our countries make investment very attractive. Today, we need to define the scope of potential investment and business groups to co-ordinate plans in accordance with local demand. I think that it's easy to do due to the wide audience. I am sure that there will be many new business connections established today. Of course, I want once again to invite the Latvian companies to work in Azerbaijan as contractors. Several Latvian companies have worked in Azerbaijan, carrying out various projects. These projects were implemented very successfully and at a high level. Because your companies have deep expertise, authority and professional level. We in Azerbaijan implement many infrastructure projects that may be of interest to your companies. "
"We have such a powerful format of cooperation with Latvia that it would be natural to start a broader partnership. Today we also discussed a very important issue concerning business, tourists, relations between peoples. This is about a direct flight between Baku and Riga, which will be carried out all year round. Now we have a seasonal flights, which we want to make permanent. Of course, it will create additional opportunities, and at the same time, if representatives of the business community use flights to visit each other more regularly, it will make them very attractive from a commercial point of view. Thus, the flight will be justified not only by the decision of the countries’ leadership, but also from a commercial point of view.

The last question I want to draw your attention to is tourism. Our climates and weather conditions are very different from each other. I consider this an advantage, as our citizens prefer cool weather in the summer, and Latvians, it is likely, in winter and other seasons are more eager for sunny weather. Therefore, there is a great potential for investing in tourism and ensuring the attractiveness of our territories for tourism companies. But for this we must, of course, have more connections. We need to know each other better, hold more presentations, more such forums, which will strengthen our relations. Everything we do is aimed at strengthening relations between Latvia and Azerbaijan, and my current visit is a very important contribution to this cause," the Head of State concluded.

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