Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Latvian President Andris Berzins paying a three-day official visit to Azerbaijan held talks with his counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday, Azerbaijan's state news agency AzerTac reported.

During the one-on-one meeting, the two presidents praised the development of relations between Azerbaijan and Latvia in a variety of fields, particularly in politics and economics.

The two presidents stressed the importance of mutual visits in terms of expansion of cooperation between the two countries. They expressed confidence that the Latvian President's visit would contribute to developing the Azerbaijan-Latvia relations.

The heads of state also exchanged views on the strengthening of relations with Latvia in the context of the Azerbaijan-EU cooperation.

Later in the day, the presidents were joined by their delegations for an expanded meeting.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Latvia have very good cooperation which covers almost all fields.

"I am sure that the visit will have very good results and Latvia-Azerbaijan relations will further develop successfully," the Azerbaijani President said.

"Both our political and economic relations are developing. We have very active cooperation in international organizations as well, and we support each other. So, there is no problem between the two countries. We should only strengthen our joint efforts to achieve better cooperation," he said, voicing confidence that the talks and exchange of opinions during the visit would create a good basis for solving all issues.

In turn, President Berzins voiced his satisfaction with being in Azerbaijan.

"We have special interest in this visit. Our interest is so great that we particularly ordered a large plane. Before the visit I collected some information about your country. I learned the development path that your country has gone through in the last 20 years. This definitely produces a deep impression," Berzins said.

The Latvian President went on to say that soon Azerbaijan and Latvia will mark the 20th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

"I think that we have already created very good and excellent relations in all spheres. This is a good foundation for our closer economic cooperation in the future," he noted.

Following the expanded meeting, the presidents gave a joint press conference. They made speeches, before taking questions from journalists.

President Aliyev said the negotiations and exchange of views conducted show once again that bilateral relations are at a high level.

"There is a very active political dialogue between us. There are no problems between us at the political level. We actively cooperate and support each other in international organizations," he said.

"Despite the fact that there has been great progress in the economic sphere in recent years, the turnover is still not up to the standard. I believe that we have to achieve growth of our turnover together. I think that the possibilities for this are available. The business forum upcoming today should make a contribution to the development of relations between business entities. I believe that we should consider investment projects in the economic field. There are already preliminary proposals. I want to say that Azerbaijan has already started to invest in foreign markets. This is already producing excellent results. We must work on specific projects in order to increase the turnover."

Also, President Aliyev said, additional opportunities can be created to expand the operation of Latvian companies in Azerbaijan.

"There has been great development in Azerbaijan in recent years and a number of projects are being implemented. Of course, we would like Latvian companies to work even more actively in Azerbaijan as contractors."

The President said Azerbaijan's rich oil and gas resources are supplied to world markets via different routes.

"I believe that the cooperation with the European Union in this area may rise to a new level in the coming years. At the same time, there are good opportunities to address energy issues in the bilateral format.

"Today we also exchanged views on the establishment of transport infrastructure and cooperation in the field of transport. As a result of these projects, we can resolve the issues of regional cooperation in a broad sense. The relations between the countries of the Caspian, Black and Baltic Sea regions largely depend on the transport infrastructure. For its part, Azerbaijan is committed to resolving these issues. The large transportation projects carried out on our initiative are bearing fruit," President Aliyev said.

On foreign policy, President Aliyev said there is no disagreement.

President Berzins said addressing the media that Latvia considers Azerbaijan an important and reliable partner in the South Caucasus.

"We are very active in the areas of education and healthcare, as well as in the field of humanitarian aid," he said. "From this point of view, I think that our countries can conduct exchanges. In addition, we will have great pleasure in sharing experiences in other areas -- let's say, the experience we have acquired in working with the European Union and European institutions, our opportunities in the field of social protection. We can also exchange views on the improvement of the pension system and its development."

As for other fields, President Berzins said the two countries can have an effective exchange of experience in border control, the fight against drug trafficking and human trafficking.

"To develop our relations, we would like to invite Mr. President to visit Latvia again in order to further strengthen the results of our two-day work. We believe that this way we will be able to further expand our relations at all levels," he said.

President Berzins said bilateral economic relations have gained momentum.

"I believe that the work we have carried out to contribute to global security and the security of our countries is very important. I think that from this point of view we have a lot of potential. Working together, we can make effective efforts and achieve great results."

On the same day, a business forum joined by Presidents Aliyev and Berzins was held in Baku.

Addressing the forum, President Aliyev said Azerbaijan achieved very rapid economic growth, which is mainly related to the discovery and development of large oil and gas fields.

"Thanks to this we have managed to accumulate funds and direct them to the areas that we want to develop. This is mainly human capital, education, social programs and infrastructure," he said.

President Aliyev said diversification of the Azerbaijani economy is the number one goal.

"I believe that we are heading in the right direction, because our dependence on the energy sector decreases each year. And this is also our primary goal, since we intend to build a sustainable economy that does not depend on oil prices," he said. "For us, diversity means developing opportunities in the export of energy and the non-energy economy. Therefore, our future plans are connected with investments in those areas that we consider as strategic ones."

The President said further that the country continues to improve the domestic legislation on foreign investment and its protection.

"In terms of foreign direct investment per capita, Azerbaijan has been the leading country in the CIS and Central Europe for many years. While in previous years, we were mainly talking about oil and gas investments, now we can also see investments in other economic spheres. This is the service industry, agriculture and other sectors."

In the coming years, President Aliyev said, more attention will be paid to the development of sectors such as information and communication technologies, services, tourism, industry, and creation of industrial zones.

"I believe that the future cooperation between our companies in different directions can yield a good result. Azerbaijan is currently making hefty investment abroad. We are heavily investing in Europe, and this process will continue," Aliyev said.

"Latvian companies whose representatives are present here may actively participate as contractors in various projects we implement. In addition, I think the joint production possibilities may be used both in Azerbaijan and Latvia, as we have big mutual interests."

President Berzins, for his part, said both countries enjoy certain stability and have gained the necessary local and some international experience.

"Latvia is a small country and we need to be partners relying on each other," Berzins said. "This is a perfect basis for our progress. "We are strong in different industrial sectors. By joining our efforts, we can succeed. This way, our future business relations can be expanded. I am absolutely confident that in a few years we will have very good results such as the success of your construction industry."

The business forum, co-organized by the Ministry of Economic Development and Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation, brought together officials of Azerbaijan and Latvia, as well as about 200 businessmen working in a multitude of fields including industry, agriculture, food industry, ICT, tourism, insurance, healthcare, education, finance, transport, construction, logistics, and power engineering.

Later, President Aliyev hosted an official reception in honor of the visiting Latvian counterpart.

On the second day of his official visit, the Latvian leader met Azerbaijan's Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov. Parliamentary cooperation was in focus of the talks.

Berzins said Latvia considers Azerbaijan a reliable and important partner and is determined to achieve overall development of its relationship with Azerbaijan.

"We have a 20-year-long history of diplomatic relations, and the ties between our countries are developing," he said.

Speaker Asadov noted the importance of inter-parliamentary cooperation, praising the work of friendship groups in the parliaments of Azerbaijan and Latvia.

"Our parliamentarians are also effectively cooperating in international organizations," he said.

The Latvian President also had a working luncheon with Azerbaijan`s Prime Minister Artur Rasizade. They exchanged views on Azerbaijan-Latvia relations and prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries.

During the visit, the Latvian leader also familiarized himself with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. President Aliyev briefed his Latvian counterpart on the activity of the Foundation.

He was told that the main goal of the Foundation, established in memory of the Azerbaijani people's national leader, is to study and promote prominent political figure Heydar Aliyev`s rich heritage, inform the future generations and foreign visitors about his large-scale activity to achieve Azerbaijan`s socio-economic and cultural progress.

President Berzins toured the National Flag Square in Baku and became familiar with the National Flag Museum established on the initiative of President Aliyev, as well as visited Icherisheher (the Inner City), one of the world`s cultural heritage sites.

The Latvian leader got also familiarized with the Sumgayit Techno Park on the third day of the visit.

The Latvian leader visited the Alley of Martyrs to commemorate Azerbaijani heroes who gave their lives for the country`s independence and territorial integrity, and the Alley of Honors to lay a wreath at the tomb of Azerbaijan`s national leader Heydar Aliyev.