On March 11, the first meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan Supreme Interstate Council was held with the participation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kasim-Jomart Tokayev.
Publika.az reports that the President of Azerbaijan, who spoke at the meeting Ilham Aliyev said:
– Dear Kasim-Jomart Kemelevich.
Dear guests.
Dear friends.
Once again, I sincerely welcome you to Azerbaijan. We have now had a very interesting conversation, discussed many issues on bilateral and regional issues of the agenda. Now we begin the first session of the Interstate Council. The decision to establish the Council is historic in itself. This once again proves the high level of our relations and the desire of both sides to strengthen the potential of mutual cooperation. We believe that the results of the visit and the meeting of the Interstate Council will determine the future agenda of our relations in many cases.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are two brother states. Our peoples live in conditions of peace, brotherhood and cooperation for many centuries, regardless of social and political formation. As two independent states, they have been actively interacting both in international structures and in a bilateral format for more than 30 years. Recently, the dynamics of our mutual visits is very illustrative and it shows that new dynamism has been given to relations.
Kazakhstan’s success makes us happy. I would like to congratulate you and all the brotherly people of Kazakhstan on the great achievements in socio-economic development and innovative progress. The economic development of Kazakhstan and the growth of the gross domestic product indicate a correct and well-thought-out economic policy. Also, we fully support your reforms aimed at modernization of the country, diversification of the economy, and many achievements have already been achieved.
Today, we discussed regional issues in detail. I informed Kasim-Jomart Kemelevich about the process of peace negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and expressed my hope that this process will end with the signing of a peace agreement and the turning of this heavy and dark page of our history.
We also talked in detail about the projects that unite us. I expressed my gratitude to the President of Kazakhstan for his fraternal assistance in the reconstruction of Karabakh, namely, the gift of the Kazakh people to the people of Azerbaijan and the Children’s Creative Center named after Kurmangazy in the city of Fuzuli, which was initiated by President Tokayev. Tomorrow we will open this Center, which will be the center of our friendship.
We are grateful for the words of solidarity regarding the restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty. Of course, I think everyone in Azerbaijan knows that Kazakhstan is our reliable friend and ally.
We have many topics on our agenda today. We will promise members of the delegation to clarify issues in the fields of transport-logistics, energy, digitization, and humanitarian cooperation. Work is being done successfully in all directions. The meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission held recently in Astana was preparatory to your state visit. We were preparing for this trip very seriously in order to enrich it with content and to facilitate the control of their implementation later. I think we will issue appropriate assignments and receive regular updates on how our agreements are being implemented.
Dear Kasim-Jomart Kemelevich, welcome again. I am very glad to see you in Azerbaijan.
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President of Kazakhstan Kasim-Jomart Tokayev said:
– Ilham Heydar oglu, thank you for your kind words to Kazakhstan. First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the hospitality extended to us and take this opportunity to congratulate you again on a very convincing victory in the presidential elections. This victory is an indicator of high confidence and national support for your strategic course. You are the leader of the people of Azerbaijan, who is accepted by everyone, and this is exactly how you are accepted in the international arena.
At the same time, as you rightly pointed out, we sincerely rejoice at the historical Victory of Azerbaijan and the restoration of its sovereignty over its territories. This Victory is essentially historical and will undoubtedly enter the pages of the annals of both Azerbaijan and world history.
Regarding Kazakhstan-Azerbaijani relations, we are holding a meeting of the Supreme Interstate Council for the first time. In general, this is also a historical event. Just now, we have conducted a detailed discussion of almost all issues related to our economic-commercial and investment cooperation and mutual activity in the international arena, and we have reached common conclusions. This shows that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are really strategic partners, allied states. Here is the important secret of what happened in our cooperation. The prospects are very good and, of course, the governments will deal with the implementation of the agreements reached in the form of documents and agreements signed today.
The level of cooperation and interaction, contacts is quite high. Today we talked about your planned or planned participation in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in the Consultative meeting of the leaders of the Central Asian States.
I accept the invitation to participate in the informal summit of the leaders of the Organization of Turkic States with great hope and gratitude. Of course, the COP29 summit is a historical achievement of the Azerbaijani state and its diplomacy in general. The summit is of primary importance from the point of view of solving the current climate problems, but also from the point of view of global cooperation in this field. There is no doubt that Baku will cope with this task. We attended the COP28 summit in Dubai and found it to be a very important forum indeed. We are glad that Baku was chosen as the venue for such an important global forum.
We talked about the fact that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are neighboring states on the Caspian Sea and that, of course, gives a special character to our mutual relations. Since 2020, the turnover of goods between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan has increased five times. Of course, the absolute numbers may not make that big of an impression. Work in this area should be continued. Our countries have great economic potential, and I think that the next successes are not far away. Today we talked about various issues, from transport and logistics to digitalization issues, not to mention oil and gas and others.
I am pleased that we are successfully cooperating in the international arena. Whether at the United Nations or other international organizations, our delegations are successfully interacting. I think this line will continue.
I would like to mention the fraternal relations between the holy cities of Turkestan and Shusha, as well as Uralsk and Mingachevir, Shymkent and Ganja from a positive point of view.
In general, I also pay great attention to cultural relations between our countries. This is very important from the point of view of the rapprochement of our nations. Perpetuating the memory of Akhmet Baytursynov and opening a street named after him in Sumgayit, perpetuating the name of Heydar Aliyev in Astana was also significant for our countries, we thank you.
Last year, the Days of Culture in Azerbaijan were held with great success, and as you said, tomorrow we will open the Children’s Creativity Center named after Kurmangazy in the city of Fuzuli. This will be a symbol of our mutual activity and cooperation.
There is nothing more to add, as they say, because we have already really talked about all the issues that are on the agenda of our cooperation. I suggest that we start the meeting of the Council.
President Ilham Aliyev:
– Kasim-Jomart Kemelevich, thank you very much. We already have several items on the agenda. Development of economic-commercial and investment cooperation, cooperation in the field of oil and gas, renewable energy sources, transport-logistics, digital communications, as well as in cultural and humanitarian fields.
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On March 11, the first meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan High Interstate Council was held with the participation of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of Kazakhstan Kasim-Jomart Tokayev.
Publika.az reports that the Press Service of the President released information about this.
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The first meeting of the Supreme Interstate Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Kazakhstan began with the participation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Gasim-Jomart Tokayev.
Publika.az reports that the Press Service of the President released information about this.
