Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has received French envoy Pascal Meunier as he ends his diplomatic mission in the country, AzerTac state news agency reported.

Meunier said he was leaving the county and the Azerbaijani people with good impressions, adding he would spare no efforts to contribute to the expansion of ties between the two countries during his future activities.

The ambassador noted that thanks to support of President Aliyev and Azerbaijan`s First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva relations between France and Azerbaijan were strengthened even further.

Noting the contributions of Meunier to the development of Azerbaijani-French bilateral ties, the head of state said that cooperation between the two countries reached a high level during his diplomatic tenure.

Stressing the importance of high-level reciprocal visits, as well as the activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in terms of further development of the ties, President Aliyev expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the relations covered a wide range of areas, and described the bilateral cooperation as strategic partnership covering a variety of fields, including energy, technology, business, cultural and other ones.

The head of state wished the ambassador success in his future activities.

France recognized the independence of Azerbaijan on January 3, 1992. Azerbaijan and France established diplomatic relations in February 1992.

Azerbaijan and France are actively developing their relations. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and France amounted to $1.681 billion in 2014.

French companies are actively participating in the petrochemical, food, agricultural, machine engineering, tourism and other spheres in Azerbaijan.

Some 91 companies from France are involved in the oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan as subcontractors. At the same time, over 50 French companies are involved in the non-oil sectors' projects, including the first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite Azerspace, and a plant for solid waste recycling.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz