President Aliyev heads to Switzerland, holds meetings - UPDATE
By Aynur Karimova
President Ilham Aliyev embarked on a working visit to Switzerland on January 20 to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As part of the visit, President Aliyev met with Vice Chairman of Lazard Europe Mathieu Pigasse.
During the meeting, President Aliyev highly praised cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lazard Europe. He said there is good potential for developing this cooperation even further.
Pigasse, who is Azerbaijan's financial adviser on the Southern Gas Corridor project, hailed Azerbaijan's rating. He said the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan have had a positive impact on the country's image, adding that this expands its opportunities for attracting additional financial resources.
The sides also discussed business relations between Azerbaijan and Lazard Europe, as well as opportunities for cooperation in other fields.
Later, President Aliyev met with Vahid Alakbarov, President of Russian Lukoil Company.
It was stressed that Lukoil has been successfully operating in Azerbaijan for more than 20 years and is a reliable partner. The company is a participant of giant Shah Deniz project, which is being successfully implemented. Cooperation between Azerbaijan's state energy giant SOCAR and Lukoil covers new fields.
The sides discussed prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lukoil.
As part of the visit, President Aliyev also met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and the sides hailed the development of Azerbaijani-Turkish friendly and brotherly relations in all fields.
They stressed the importance of regular high-level meetings in terms of the expansion of cooperation. The significance of joint participation of Azerbaijan and Turkey in international events was emphasized as well.
They also discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, expansion of economic cooperation, and other issues of mutual interest.
Later, President Aliyev met with Robert Dudley, the Chief Executive Officer of BP.
They praised Azerbaijan-BP cooperation in the exploitation of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli and Shah Deniz fields. They also pointed out successful continuation of geological survey on shallow part of Absheron peninsula waters.
Also, President Aliyev met with Mohammad Nahavandian, the Head of the Iranian Presidential Administration, and they praised the current high-level of bilateral ties
between the two countries, which have dynamically developed over the last years.
President Aliyev congratulated Iranian president and people on the occasion of the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country. He said this will contribute to rapid development of cooperation between the two countries in all fields.
The President noted that Azerbaijani-Iranian relations serves the best interests of both countries, and will contribute to the strengthening of stability and security in the region as well.
The sides broadly discussed the implementation of joint projects. The existence of wide opportunities for developing economic cooperation in banking, transport and other fields was emphasized.
Nahavandian, in turn, said the lifting of the sanctions opens up broader opportunities for Iran, adding Azerbaijan and Iran can take advantage of this to realize new projects and further deepen the cooperation through involving other countries. They underlined the importance of developing Azerbaijani-Iranian cooperation in the transport sector for the region.
Later, President Aliyev met with the European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.
They expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU in various areas, including in the field of energy.
The sides stressed the importance of Azerbaijan's role in ensuring energy security of Europe, and the significance of the Southern Gas Corridor in this regard.
Successful realization of the Southern Gas Corridor project was emphasized, and the European Commission's full support for the implementation of this project was stressed during the meeting.
President Aliyev also met with Suma Chakrabarti, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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