President of the Republic of Austria Heinz Fischer and his wife Margit Fischer have hosted an official lunch reception in honor of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva. 

Expressing his satisfaction with the development of relations between the two countries, President of the Republic of Austria Heinz Fischer said:

- Thank you and your wife for accepting our invitation and paying a visit to Austria together with a delegation.

In response to the hospitality extended to us during my visit to Azerbaijan and to Baku in autumn 2011, I am trying to receive you with the same hospitality.

There are many opportunities for our cooperation. I can say that our cooperation has always been successful. Turnover indicators are growing and our export-import operations are expanding. We also cooperate in the international arena, i.e. within international forums and organizations.

Congratulating Azerbaijan on being elected to the UN Security Council, the Austrian President expressed his confidence that an option acceptable for Azerbaijan would be achieved in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has remained unresolved for many years.

Touching upon the importance of mutual high-level visits for the expansion of relations, President Heinz Fischer pointed to the significance of strengthening economic ties and the declaration signed during the visit.

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Expressing his gratitude for the warm hospitality, President Ilham Aliyev said that the relations between Azerbaijan and Austria were developing successfully:

- We remember your visit to Azerbaijan very well, as it was the first visit of the President of Austria in the history of our relations.

It was a historic visit. We have established excellent personal relations and agreed to intensify our dialogue. And less than two years later, we can see that our trade has grown rapidly. Very active political consultations are under way.

The head of state said that high-level reciprocal visits and meetings of business people serve to further strengthen the ties between the two countries. Indicating that the Austrian companies working in Azerbaijan were successfully represented in a number of areas, President Ilham Aliyev said that the economic cooperation between the two countries had good prospects.

Touching upon Austria’s position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- I am very grateful to you for understanding our problems. In particular, I am talking about the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the suffering our people have been exposed to.

The commitment of the international community to resolving the conflict in accordance with the norms of international law is encouraging. However, the fact that the conflict has remained unresolved for 20 years is, of course, very disappointing.

As noted in our joint declaration on friendship and partnership, a solution must be based on international law, decisions and resolutions of international organizations.

Expressing his confidence of a further strengthening of the partnership between the two countries in the coming years, President Ilham Aliyev said it was important to expand the air traffic between Azerbaijan and Austria. The head of state highlighted that the cooperation between the two countries provides fertile ground for organizing at least daily flights between Vienna and Baku.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed his gratitude for the excellent hospitality again.