President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Africa Dipuo Bertha Letsatsi-Duba.

Ambassador Dipuo Bertha Letsatsi-Duba presented her credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.

The head of state had a conversation with the ambassador.

Hailing the level of relations between Azerbaijan and South Africa, President Ilham Aliyev stressed the necessity of revitalizing cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, trade and investment. President Ilham Aliyev, at the same time, emphasized that despite the very good level of the political contacts, economic and trade indicators are at a low level. In this regard, the head of state expressed hope that the existing potential will be used for expanding economic ties.

Saying that Azerbaijan`s relations with the African countries have been further expanded, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized the cooperation in the Non-Aligned Movement. Noting that Azerbaijan has made very serious efforts to strengthen solidarity as part of this organization, the head of state described the organization of the Baku conference of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network and the Youth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Azerbaijan as a good example of it.

Dipuo Bertha Letsatsi-Duba noted that her country considers Azerbaijan a strategic partner in the region and in general, and underlined that the Republic of South Africa is interested in raising bilateral cooperation to a higher level. The ambassador expressed hope that relations between the two countries will expand even further.

During the conversation, the sides discussed issues of cooperation in the field of tourism, as well as noted the importance of establishing relations between the business communities of the two countries and expanding economic and trade relations.