Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday met a group of participants of "Building bridges" international conference.

The participants included former president of the European Commission Jacques Santer, former French secretary of state for transport Thierry Mariani, former Turkish prime minister Mesut Yilmaz, former Dutch defence minister Willem van Eekelen, Slovenia`s former minister of foreign affairs, member of European Parliament Ivo Vajgl, former economic development minister of Slovenia Mitja Gaspari, former minister of transportation and infrastructure of Germany Kurt Bodewig, prince of Denmark Christian zu Schaumburg-Lippe and chairman of the Board of Institute for European Affair Jurgen Gramke.

President Aliyev stressed the importance of the conference. He said building bridges was among key priorities in Azerbaijan`s foreign policy in the region and in the world as a whole. He noted mutual understanding had to be based only on mutual trust and mutual respect.

President Aliyev also spoke of successful reforms held in Azerbaijan, and praised the country`s cooperation with European organizations.

Aliyev said Azerbaijan had made contributions to cooperation with Euro-Atlantic organizations, adding last year the country became a member of the UN Security Council.

The President also touched upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stressing Yerevan does not honor resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

"The situation is indeed very dangerous and it can't last forever. However, the Armenians don't want to change the situation, they try to strengthen the status quo."

Chairman of the Board of Institute for European Affairs Jurgen Gramke emphasized the importance of "Building bridges" international conference organized by the Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan (AVCIYA) and Institute for European Affairs (INEA).

The two-day conference was held in a suburb of Baku at Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Hotel on Thursday and Friday.