Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Czech Republic’s President Milos Zeman, who is on an official trip to Azerbaijan, was officially welcomed in capital Baku on September 15.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva met President Zeman and his spouse Ivana Zemanova, AzerTac state news agency reported.

Following the official welcoming ceremony, the two presidents held a one-on-one meeting.

During the meeting, the sides emphasized the successful development of bilateral relations in the political, economic, humanitarian and other spheres.

They stressed the significance of this visit in terms of expanding the bilateral relations and noted that there are good prospects for strengthening the relations.

During the meeting, the two presidents exchanged views on the bilateral relations and the issues of mutual interest.

Afterwards, President Aliyev and his Czech counterpart held an expanded meeting.

Noting that it was President Zeman’s first visit to Azerbaijan, he expressed hope that the visit will be successful.

The president said the sides will go forward in bilateral relations, which develop successfully.

"We cover many areas and cooperate in economic, political, cultural areas, and energy too. We have full mutual understanding. On bilateral level we met [with President Zeman] several times, in Czech Republic and other places," President Aliyev said.

He further added that both sides have full mutual understanding about the development of mutual relations and also regarding regional conflicts.

"Today we've also discussed the regional situation, regional stability. Predictability is one of the important elements of positive development. In countries where stability is undermined, we see very negative consequences," President Aliyev said.

The president noted that Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic are good partners, and friendly countries.

"We will concentrate on how to stimulate economic cooperation, tomorrow we will address the business circles of our countries," he said.

The president also added that Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic saw growth of mutual trade, and there is need to look at the structure of the trade to make it even more balanced than it is today.

A ceremony of signing documents between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic was held, following the expanded meeting with participation of the two countries’ delegations.

President Aliyev and his Czech counterpart Zeman signed a joint declaration on strategic partnership between the two countries.

Moreover, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the agrarian sphere was signed between the agriculture ministries of the two countries. The document was signed by Azerbaijan’s Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov and the Czech Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jaroslava Benes Spalkova.

Also, a meeting between Azerbaijan’s First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva and First Lady of the Czech Republic Ivana Zemanova was held.

The Czech Republic recognized the independence of Azerbaijan on January 8, 1992. Two countries established diplomatic relations on January 29, 1993.

Currently, the Czech Republic mainly imports Azerbaijani oil, while industrial equipment and consumer goods are exported to Azerbaijan.

In January-July 2015, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $440.93 million, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.

Czech companies are present in Azerbaijan and implement contracts worth about $1 billion, and implementation of the contract for the construction of Baku-Guba highway worth $300 million has been already completed.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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