President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Milan Stech hosted a luncheon in honor of Ilham Aliyev

The President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Milan Stech, and his wife Ivana Stechova have hosted a luncheon in honor of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva in Prague.

The President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Milan Stech, and his wife Ivana Stechova, met President Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva.

First, a picture was taken.

Then members of the Senate were introduced to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva.

Then a luncheon was hosted in honor of the President of Azerbaijan and his wife.

Speaking at the luncheon, President of the Senate Milan Stech stressed the importance of developing the relations between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic in various areas, including inter-parliamentary cooperation. He pointed to the successful development of Azerbaijani-Czech economic relations. The President of the Senate said his country attached great importance to the cooperation with Azerbaijan and highly appreciated Azerbaijan's role in the region.

President Ilham Aliyev also made remarks at the luncheon. The President said he had visited Prague two years ago to attend the “Eastern Partnership” summit and was now paying a state visit to the country. Stressing that the visit actually shows the level of bilateral relations, the President of Azerbaijan said:

- Mr. President, you are absolutely right that our relationship has entered into a very active and dynamic phase over the past few years. The state visit by President Klaus to Azerbaijan last year and my state visit to the Czech Republic demonstrate how important this relationship is for both countries. These days we are witnessing a dynamic development of these relations. We also have good recollections about the visit of Mr. Sobotka to Baku.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you, Mr. President, to Baku. We are having a very active political dialogue and I would like to say that political relations between our countries are at the highest level.

You have also pointed to the economic potential of our countries. Despite the rapid growth of the economy and trade, the potential of both countries is still higher than our trade. We invite Czech companies to work in Azerbaijan. We invite them to be our partners, investors and contractors. We have already discussed the economic aspect of our cooperation. I am sure that this visit will give a great impetus to the further development of mutually beneficial economic ties.

We are very pleased that Azerbaijan is number one economic partner in the South Caucasus for the Czech Republic. We believe that given our economic and political agenda, the Czech Republic is one of the important countries for Azerbaijan. I am pleased that our energy cooperation is developing successfully and there is a potential for the development of this sector.

Today we signed documents covering cultural, tourism and humanitarian spheres. This suggests that these areas do not remain out of sight. So our relations and communications are very broad and promising.

Visiting the Senate today, I note how important the contacts between the parliaments of both countries are. As a former member of the Azerbaijani parliament, I can say that the MPs of our countries have established very successful contacts. I remember when Azerbaijan was elected a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) 10 years ago, members of the Parliament of the Czech Republic gave us tremendous support.

President Aliyev pointed to the importance of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s Baku session held several days ago.

At the end of luncheon, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva signed a book of honorable guests of the Senate.

The President and his wife were informed about the activities of the Czech Senate. It was noted that the Senate is located in one of Prague’s historic buildings. Its architecture imparts special beauty to the city.