Ilham Aliyev holds expanded meeting with President of Laos

On October 13, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held an expanded meeting with President of the Lao Peoplechr("39")s Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith.

Addressing the meeting, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Once again, welcome, Mr. President. Ichr("39")m very glad that you accepted my invitation and are visiting Azerbaijan. Ichr("39")m sure that the visit will strengthen our bilateral ties and create new opportunities for cooperation.

We have just had a tête-à-tête meeting, where we broadly discussed our bilateral agenda, including political and economic areas and areas of mutual interest. And now wechr("39")ll continue with the participation of the delegations.

I think that the best result of your visit will be the further strengthening of our political ties. We are good friends, and we cooperate actively on the international arena. And we definitely want to see more active development on the economic track. I looked at some figures; theychr("39")re very small, but there is great potential. I think your visit will give a boost to our economic cooperation. And also, as I said during our tête-à-tête meeting, we are ready to consider practical investment projects in your country. And I think the business communities of both sides will explore that opportunity. Also, you will have meetings, as we discussed, with the heads of our parliament and government, where the discussions will continue.

In general, we are very satisfied with the level of political ties. We have met several times on different international occasions, but this is the first official visit by the President of Laos to Azerbaijan, and it definitely has a special status. And also, thank you for attending the CICA Summit. With the unanimous support of all the countries, Azerbaijan was selected to chair CICA and has tried to contribute to the development of this institution over the last two years. And of course, the summit in Baku, with the large participation of heads of state and government and other officials, will definitely strengthen security and cooperation in Asia. And in general, our foreign policy towards Asia is, I think, very dynamic and result-oriented. I wish you a pleasant stay. Once again, welcome to Azerbaijan