 On the second day of his visit to Azerbaijan, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, met the Azerbaijani Prime Minister, Artur Rasizade. They welcomed the conclusion of agreements on cooperation between Slovenia and Azerbaijan, and concurred on the necessity to upgrade and widen cooperation between the two countries in all areas and on instituting regular visits on the highest level. They also discussed business, more precisely the Azerbaijani project of construction of small and medium-sized hydroelectric plants and expansion of existing ones. President Türk pointed out that Slovenia had great experience in this field. The two presidents also talked about cooperation in the field of telecommunications and IT, and exchanged views on the issue of Nagorny Karabach.
President Türk then laid a wreath at the monument of the national hero, Mehdi Huseynzade – Mihajlo, after which he met the Mayor of Baku, Hajibala Abutalibov. |
 Later in the visit, Presidents Türk and Aliyev participated in the Azerbaijani-Slovenian Business Forum and addressed businesspeople from the two countries. President Aliyev said that the most important goal of Azerbaijan was to fully diversify its economy. The country has already succeeded in moving away from its total dependency on the energy sector, and was now focusing on areas such as tourism, information technologies and industry. He added that the country was interested in channelling more investment into the private sector.
President Aliyev continued by saying that Azerbaijan considered Slovenia a very important partner and advocated that Azerbaijani businesspeople visit Slovenia. We need to know each other better, he said, so that we may launch wider economic cooperation between the two countries.
Slovenia is most supportive of Azerbaijan in its relations with the European Union, which have intensified since the establishment of the Eastern Partnership last May. Azerbaijan has been making great efforts to enter the EU energy market, continued Mr Aliyev, which would be in the interests of both Azerbaijan and the European Union. Yet, to achieve this aim, it was first necessary to solve the issue of transit of energy towards the EU, said Mr. Aliyev, who also expressed his hope that this would be resolved shortly. |
 President Türk first congratulated Azerbaijan on its achievements, as in a relatively short period of time the country has succeeded in establishing itself as a major energy player of global proportions. This is, he said, a major strategic and economic achievement. Slovenia's achievement, in his words, is the monetary stability which has been achieved through its membership in the European Union and the Euro zone. This stability, he continued, is an important basis for Slovenia’s economic development and cooperation with partners from other parts of the world.
In seeking opportunities to widen economic cooperation between the two countries, we need to be creative and ambitious, said President Türk. In this context, he highlighted the areas of renewable energy sources, in particular hydroelectric energy, telecommunications and IT, road construction and tourism.
He pointed out that growth in Slovenia is resuming and that it is necessary to look at the future not from the point of view of the recent difficulties, but rather from the point of view of the opportunities that are ahead. Dr Türk also said that he firmly believed that Slovenia and Azerbaijan would be great partners in the future, and that there were also significant opportunities in the area of cultural cooperation. He also expressed his hope that, in compliance with the joint declaration that he and President Aliyev signed the day before, the joint commission that will assist in the development of cooperation between business entities from both countries will shortly begin to work. |