President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad bin Amin Madani in Jeddah.

Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad bin Amin Madani welcomed President Ilham Aliyev.

Then, Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani and President Ilham Aliyev had a joint dinner.

OIC Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani and President Ilham Aliyev addressed the dinner.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:

- Your Highness Prince!

Mr. Secretary-General!

Dear friends!

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for this hospitality. I am very glad to be visiting Saudi Arabia again.

Yesterday I started my official visit to your beautiful country. I had the honor to discuss with His Majesty the King of Saudi Arabia, the minister of Two Holy Mosques, many issues of our bilateral relations and regional developments.

We have once again confirmed the strategic nature of our partnership. Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan - are brothers and friends. We have always supported and will always support each other in all international institutions.

At the same time, during meetings with ministers of your country yesterday, we discussed various projects related to economic and political cooperation and the opportunities for expanding the volume of bilateral trade. We must raise our economic partnership to the level of political cooperation. A large delegation of businessmen from Saudi Arabia will visit our country next month, while our delegation will travel to your country in November. I think they will create a very productive format for economic cooperation. In other words, I am confident that my visit will further strengthen the fraternal relations between our countries.

It is also a great honor for to be at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, of which Azerbaijan is an active member, today.

Mr. Secretary-General, as you have noted, in the past few years Azerbaijan has hosted various ministerial meetings.

Azerbaijan as a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation seeks to play a very active role and contribute to the cause of Islamic solidarity in the world. Mr. Secretary General, you have correctly pointed out that when our country was a nonpermanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, we paid special attention to the cooperation between the UN and the OIC, and thus succeeded in attracting even more attention to the activities of our organization.

I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for the strong support of Azerbaijan’s candidacy in the election of our country as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council. I clearly stated then that if Azerbaijan is elected, it will represent and protect not only itself, but also all the countries of the Muslim world.

We will work even harder to strengthen Islamic solidarity. In 2017, Azerbaijan will play host to Islamic Solidarity Games.

This is also a contribution to our unity because these Games will not be just a sporting event, but also days of our unity and the solidarity of our young generations in the Muslim world. We need to pass the traditions of brotherhood on to the younger generation who will replace us. It should be noted that the media, globalization and other elements of our daily life are playing a role in terms of various aspects. Unfortunately, sometimes they play a negative role, calling into question our roots and traditions. Globalization itself is a good process. But if it also means forgetting the roots, traditions, religion, holidays and values, then we do not support such a globalization.

For this reason, younger generations of the Muslim world should be raised in accordance with our national and traditional values. Of course, from this point of view, the role played by Saudi Arabia is very important. In its turn, Azerbaijan is also doing its best to promote our values. In order to demonstrate the culture of the Muslim world, present Islam as a religion of peace, brotherhood and tolerance, we have organized a lot of conferences, exhibitions and other cultural events in different parts of the world.

In order to prevent people from trying to present Islam as a threat to peace, we must work even harder and join our efforts. Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood. We know that. Everyone should know this. We need to become more active to promote our values and present our past, present day and our future plans correctly.

We will continue to support our Muslim brothers in all international forums and organizations in which we participate. We will achieve our goals in the Muslim world and create a stronger partnership and unity we all need. I believe that together with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has now become one of the leading international organizations, we will achieve our goals.

I want to express my appreciation for the hospitality to the leadership of Saudi Arabia and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation once again. Since yesterday I feel very much at home here. This is a manifestation of our brotherhood and the essence of our cooperation.

Thank you very much again. I invite all of you to visit Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev and Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Iyad bin Amin Madani then had a meeting.

During the meeting, it was noted that Azerbaijan and OIC maintained high-level cooperation. The sides stressed the importance of this meeting in terms of further expansion of relations. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation`s just position on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan was highly appreciated.

During the conversation, the parties exchanged views over prospects for bilateral ties.