Ilham Aliyev received credentials of incoming Swedish ambassador

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden Christian Kamill.

Presenting his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev, Ambassador Christian Kamill said:

- Mr. President, I am honored to present to you the credentials signed by His Majesty the King of Sweden and appointing me as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as the letter of recall of my predecessor. Mr. President, please allow me to convey His Majesty's sincere and best wishes to you and the people of Azerbaijan.

Speaking with the Ambassador, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Please also convey my best wishes to His Majesty. I am very pleased to welcome you to Azerbaijan. I wish you a good time in our country. I hope that during your activity in Azerbaijan, the development of relations between our countries will continue successfully. We look forward to receiving your Foreign Minister in our country and discussing a wide range of issues related to our cooperation, as well as our future cooperation with the European Union. As you know, Sweden has always been active in expanding cooperation between the European Union and our region. There is now a very high-level partnership between the European Union and Azerbaijan, and this partnership covers many areas. I do hope that negotiations on a new agreement will be continued. Of course, the pandemic situation has interfered with our plans. We have been in quarantine for several months. Therefore, we had no active physical contacts. But cooperation continues. Therefore, I am confident that we will have a new format of cooperation.

As you know, Azerbaijan has signed strategic partnership documents with one third of EU member states. This demonstrates the level of cooperation. Two years ago, we also signed a document on partnership priorities. This is very important for the future development of our cooperation. We are very pleased that in this document the European Union supports the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of our borders. This is a very important sign of a fair approach to resolving the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. As for our bilateral relations, of course, we want to see them become more active. I am sure that this opportunity will arise due to the activities of Ambassadors. I wish you a pleasant time and active work in our country.

Ambassador Christian Kamill: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I listened to you very carefully. Thank you for the warm welcome to Azerbaijan, which I already know well and which is dear to me. As Sweden's first resident Ambassador to Baku, I will do my best to contribute to the further strengthening of our bilateral relations. Indeed, our Foreign Minister's visit to your country next week is quite timely. I look forward to it.

Mr. President, I would like to thank you for appreciating Sweden's support for closer EU cooperation with your country. We were glad to see a large delegation from Azerbaijan in Stockholm on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership. Now we need to further develop this cooperation. Sweden is ready to be one of the countries supporting these talks. Of course, I do hope that I will be able to do my part in building closer business ties between our countries.