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Israeli president highly appreciates Azerbaijanâ€™s efforts towards the regional peace

29 June 2009 08:03 (UTC +04:00)

The head of state said they discussed the development of economic relations as well and emphasized the growing trade turnover between the two countries. He said this figure was 3.6 billion USD last year.

There are very good prospects for cooperation in the fields of agriculture, healthcare, tourism, science and technology and space industry, said the president. He spoke about the achievements of the two countries in these fields and said they were planning to develop this positive tendency in future.

The head of state touched upon the energy cooperation and said it would be developed in future too. He said Azerbaijan and Israel had high-level humanitarian relations.

President Aliyev emphasized that the Jewish community lives in Azerbaijan in peace and friendship for centuries. â€œIsraeli citizens, born in Azerbaijan and living and working in Israel now, also have an important role in the development of bilateral relations. Indeed they are Azerbaijani Diaspora in Israelâ€.

Ilham Aliyev said they discussed the regional issues, the situation in the Middle and the Caucasus and conflicts as well. â€œI informed Mr. President about the situation around the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately despite 15 years of ceasefire, there is no progress and achievement in the solution to the conflict. 20 percent of our lands are still under the occupation. More than one million Azerbaijanis are living in exile as refugees and internally displaced persons. Despite that UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding immediate withdrawal of Armenian forces from the Azerbaijani territories, the occupation is still continued creating the biggest threat not only for us, but for entire region as wellâ€.

The head of state expressed confidence that decisions and agreements reached during the visit will create new opportunities for the development of bilateral relations.

President of Israel Shimon Peres said he was fond of Azerbaijan. He said there were similarities between the two countries. â€œOur countries have no large territories but have big-hearted peoplesâ€.

The president of Israel expressed opinion about the fact of occupation created as a result of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict: â€œDespite the occupation, you could save your culture and optimism. I understand how difficult is the problem of one million refugees and internally displaced persons for the country with eight million of population. It means that every eighth person in Azerbaijan is refugee or internally displaced person, but you are properly overcoming this problemâ€.

Peres emphasized the importance of further development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel. He said there was an atmosphere of high tolerance in Azerbaijan. The Israeli president thanked for good attitude toward the Jewish community in Azerbaijan. â€œIt was so historically. The Jewish people left Azerbaijan and came to Israel are always sharing their good impression about Azerbaijan. We are in the beginning of the way of innovations. This is big and far reaching start. Today the small countries have not to be limited with own innovations and have to move forward toward the new horizons, national concept and thought. A large delegation of Israel is visiting Azerbaijan today. There are three ministers in the delegation. There are nearly 50 business people visiting Azerbaijan for deepening and enriching our relations. It must be mutually. We must work for mutual advantagesâ€.

Peres highly appreciated the Azerbaijanâ€™s efforts towards the achieving of regional peace.