Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Andris Berzins participate Azerbaijan – Latvia Business Forum

Azerbaijan – Latvia Business Forum was held with the participation of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Latvia Andris Berzins in Baku Business Center on 24 April.

Forum participants warmly welcomed the President of Azerbaijan and Latvia.

The heads of states made statements.

The statement of President Ilham Aliyev:

"Dear Mr. President!

Dear guests!

Once again I sincerely welcome you, welcome to Azerbaijan!

Your visit is of great importance. The talks that we held today and exchange of views show once again that the Latvian-Azerbaijani ties are on a very high level. We hold a very active political dialogue. We have no problems in the political space. We are actively cooperating, supporting each other in international organizations. Certainly, we strive to bring the ties in all spheres to the level of our political relations. First of all, I would like to note the economic sphere. Despite a huge progress in economic sphere over the past years, the trade turnover still does not meet our expectations. I believe that we must achieve an increase in trade turnover through joint efforts. I think there are opportunities for this. The upcoming business forum is to contribute to development of ties between the business structures. I believe that we must consider the investment projects in economic sphere. There are already preliminary proposals. I want to say that Azerbaijan has already started to invest in foreign markets. This already produces a positive effect. The work on definite projects must proceed for us to be able to raise trade.

All the same, additional opportunities can be created for the expansion of activity of Latvian companies in Azerbaijan. I consider that these opportunities can be presented within the framework of the business forum. Huge development is observed in Azerbaijan and numerous projects are being implemented in Azerbaijan over the past years. Certainly, we would like the Latvian companies to work more actively in Azerbaijan as the contractors.

Today we have also spoken about energy issues. Azerbaijan has become a partner-country for the European Union in terms of energy security. There are the documents that confirm this. Huge oil and gas resources of Azerbaijan are supplied to the world markets by different routes. I believe that in the upcoming years the cooperation with the European Union in this sphere may enter a new space. In addition, there are good opportunities for solving energy issues in the bilateral format.

Today, we also exchanged views on the creation of transport infrastructure and cooperation in transport. Issues of regional cooperation can be settled as a result of implementation of these projects. The ties between the countries of the Caspian, Black Sea and Baltic Seas mostly depend on the transport infrastructure. In turn, Azerbaijan strives to solve these issues. Huge transportation projects implemented on our initiative are producing their effect.

We have also exchanged views about foreign policy and we see again that there are no differences on these issues. Overall, we discussed a wide range of issues both at the one-on-one meeting and at the meeting with participation of delegations. I would like to note the humanitarian sphere. There is a need for cooperation in addressing issues of education and public health.

Mr. President, I consider that your visit will be successful. This is your first visit to Azerbaijan. I have repeatedly been to Latvia. I am sure that this visit will produce good results and you will return home with positive impressions.

Welcome, once again".

The statement by President Andris Berzins:

"Thank you, Mr. President!

Thank you for the opportunity provided for me to visit your country.

Latvia considers Azerbaijan a very important and reliable partner in the South Caucasus. Thank you for such a broad description. After we set diplomatic relations between our countries, good grounds appeared for future progress. I think we have reached an important potential in our political and economic relations and this development proceeds rapidly.

I would like to say on behalf of Latvia that along with the discussion of energy issue, we also noted other spheres, touched upon education. The representatives of education sphere are also here and we can widely discuss possible cooperation in this sphere. 97 Azerbaijani students study in Latvia. This also creates a good ground for strengthening of our relations in other spheres, including in economic sphere. Our health minister is also present here. This is a very important sphere for Latvia. This is the sphere related to human health. We are very active in this sphere, as well as in provision of humanitarian aid. In this sense, I consider that we can hold exchanges. In addition, we can take a pleasure in exchanging experience in other spheres-for example, our experience in working with the European Union and European institutions, our potential in social protection, we can also exchange views about improvement of the pension system and its development.

As for other spheres, I think we can carry an effective exchange of experience in border control, combat against illegal drug trafficking, human trafficking.

As for the transportation sector, I would like to say openly that the development of aviation in Latvia, in turn, can contribute to our mutual operations in this sphere. As you know, there are other trade routes, one of which is called ‘Zubr’. This is a container carriage which ensures the exit from our Baltic region to the Black Sea region. I think this can also become one of the most interesting opportunities. I consider that this is a step aimed at revealing the potential of Latvia and making it even more attractive.

The capital of Latvia-Riga will become a city of European culture in 2014. I believe that this is also of exceptional importance for cooperation in cultural sphere. I think cultural sphere opens up good potential opportunities for us. I think we can present ourselves better to the world and strengthen our positions.

Thus, for the development of our relations, we would like to invite Mr. President to visit Latvia so that to strengthen the results of our two-day work. We suppose that we will thus be able to widen our ties on all levels.

Our ties in economic sphere have become wide. I think that our work for security in the world and security of our countries is also very important. I think that we have many potential opportunities in this respect. By working together, we can achieve huge results through effective efforts. In turn, I am thankful to all participants from Azerbaijan, especially, to you, Mr. President. We know that the visit of our delegation will end tomorrow. We would like to return to our country completing our visit with definite thoughts and ideas. Because we know that though some issues are not developing at the desired pace, we consider that we will coordinate it between ourselves, Mr. President.

Thank you!"

Then the heads of states answered journalists’ questions.