President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has held an expanded meeting with President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe.

Welcoming the President of Azerbaijan, President Emomali Rahmon said:

- Dear Ilham Heydarovich,

Dear Azerbaijani friends.

It is with great pleasure that I am welcoming you to Tajikistan. We are sincerely pleased with your state visit, dear Ilham Heydarovich. We consider this visit as a good opportunity to discuss in detail the topical issues of Tajik-Azerbaijani relations and identify new points of growth.

The peoples of Tajikistan and Azerbaijan share the traditional bonds of friendship that have long historical roots. It is gratifying that the interstate cooperation between our countries is now consistently developing on a wide range of issues. It covers political, trade, economic, scientific, technical, cultural, humanitarian and many other spheres. We are paying constant attention to the comprehensive expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation with the Republic of Azerbaijan both on a bilateral basis and within international and regional organizations. I am confident that the agreements we are going to reach today will fill the agenda of our relations with a qualitatively new content. Welcome again! You have the floor, dear Ilham Heydarovich. Please.

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President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Thank you, dear Emomali Sharifovich, for the invitation and for the hospitality. I am very glad to visit your beautiful country again to continue our very active and friendly political dialogue with you.

As you have noted, the peoples of our countries have been actively interacting for a long time, and it is very gratifying that for the duration of our interstate relations, which have been developing for more than 30 years, we have managed to build a very solid and strong foundation and then build our friendship on this foundation.

As you noted, we are actively cooperating both in the multilateral format and especially in the bilateral format. We always cooperate very sincerely as good friends. During the state visit, of course, new decisions will be made, many documents will be signed that will determine the further development of our relations. We will discuss in detail the broad agenda – the trade and economic component, very great prospects in the transport and logistical sector, and in the field of investment policy.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you and the entire fraternal people of Tajikistan on the great achievements in the way of socioeconomic development and such a rapid growth of the city of Dushanbe. I have been to Tajikistan many times and have the opportunity to see firsthand positive dynamics in the development of both the country and, of course, the capital, and I would like to congratulate you on this.

Once again, thank you very much for the hospitality and we look forward to working together in the future. Thank you.