Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has met with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King of Saudi Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The head of state and First Lady, Mehriban Aliyeva arrived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for an official visit on April 5.

King Salman welcomed President Aliyev to his country, and expressed confidence that the official visit will be a success.

The parties expressed satisfaction with the level of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, and emphasized the importance of the visit in terms of cooperation development.

The significance of developing mutual understanding and fruitful cooperation between Islamic countries was underlined at the meeting.

The sides also noted the fact that the two countries were actively cooperating and supporting each other in international organizations. Prospects for expanding cooperation in the fields of economy, particularly oil and gas, tourism, agriculture as well as between business communities were discussed.

The parties also exchanged views over potential future mutual investments.

Saudi Arabia voiced support to peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

Moreover, Aliyev met with Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers, Abdulrahman Al Zamil. They emphasized the importance of reciprocal visits between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, and noted that there was good potential for expansion in cooperation.

The sides discussed joint production of petrochemical, oil and gas, agricultural goods, as well as opportunities for exporting them to Saudi Arabia and third countries. The parties discussed the issue of studying opportunities of cooperation through organizing meetings between Azerbaijani and Saudi Arabian petrochemical companies.

At the meeting with Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi, the parties hailed both countries bilateral relations. It was noted that the visit of the Azerbaijani president to Saudi Arabia would considerably contribute to the expansion of these ties.

The sides discussed oil prices on global markets, noting good opportunities for Saudi Arabian companies in Azerbaijan both as contractors and investors.

The parties also considered the implementation of experience and information exchange on various issues, as well as Southern Gas Corridor project.

President Aliyev also met Saudi Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf.

The sides noted that political relations and successful cooperation in international organizations opened good opportunities for the implementation of various projects in the fields of economy, infrastructure, etc.

They highlighted that the two countries were implementing different projects in the areas of road construction, water supply and others. The parties discussed realization of different projects in social area, irrigation, agriculture, sewerage and other fields.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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