Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

President Ilham Aliyev has officially welcomed Afghanistan’s President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, who arrived in Baku on December 22.

A guard of honor was arranged for President Ghani in the square decorated with the national flags of the two countries. The national anthems of Afghanistan and Azerbaijan were played.

State and government officials of Azerbaijan were introduced to President Ghani, and members of the Afghan delegation were introduced to President Ilham Aliyev.

Following the official welcoming ceremony, the Azerbaijani and Afghan presidents held a one-on-one meeting.

The sides hailed successful development of bilateral relations in the field of politics. The presidents noted that there was good potential for the development of economic ties.

They stressed the importance of this visit in terms of the strengthening of the relations. The sides further exchanged views over the bilateral and international issues.

Later, President Aliyev and his Afghan counterpart met in an expanded format. The presidents made speeches at the meeting.

A ceremony of signing Azerbaijani-Afghan documents was held following the expanded meeting.

Azerbaijani Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population and Afghanistan’s Ministry of of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled signed a memorandum of understanding "On cooperation in the sphere of labor, social protection and employment”.

The document was signed by Azerbaijan’s Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population Salim Muslumov and Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani.

Moreover, the sides signed an agreement “On cooperation between Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting Closed Joint-Stock Company and the National Radio Television of Afghanistan”.

The agreement was signed by head of the Azerbaijani closed joint-stock company Arif Alishanov and Sultan Ahmad Bahen on behalf of Afghanistan’s National Radio Television.

The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan were established on November 16, 1994. Azerbaijani ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is concurrently accredited to Afghanistan. The embassy of Afghanistan to Azerbaijan was opened in November, 2012.

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

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