His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Your Excellency,

We would like to join the people of Azerbaijan in celebrating this 104th anniversary of the declaration of Independence, the National Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and to extend our congratulations to Your Excellency and to the First Vice-President, as we reflect on the enormous progress that Azerbaijan has accomplished in the past 30 years, despite obstacles and challenges world is facing.

And in that context, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you, Mr. President, for the commitment you have shown to the creation, growth and international outreach of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC) and we believe that together we will continue to strengthen the NGIC and take it to ever more successful endeavors.

We look forward to being in Baku again in June for the 9th Global Baku Forum, and hope to meet you again.

Mr. President, please accept the assurances of our highest consideration.

Sincerely,

Vaira Vike-Freiberga,

President of Latvia 1999-2007, Co-Chair, NGIC

Ismail Serageldin

Vice-President, World Bank 1992-2000, Co-Chair, NGIC

Rosen Plevneliev

President of Bulgaria 2012-2017

Amr Moussa

Secretary General of the Arab League 2001-2011

Petar Stoyanov

President of Bulgaria 1997-2002

Yves Leterme

Prime Minister of Belgium 2008; 2009-2011

Zlatko Lagumdzija

Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2001-2002

Eka Tkeshelashvili

Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia 2010-2012

Kateryna Yushchenko

First lady of Ukraine 2005-2010

Ivo Josipovic

President of Croatia 2010-2015

Filip Vujanovic

President of Montenegro 2003-2018

Boris Tadic

President of Serbia 2004-2012

Rovshan Muradov

Secretary General, NGIC