Ilham Aliyev receives Israeli defense minister

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Minister of Defense of the State of Israel Avigdor Lieberman, Trend reports.

As Arzu Nagiyev, deputy director of Trend, noted in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, topics on the agenda of Lieberman's talks in Baku include military-technical cooperation, regional security and relations between security structures of Israel and Azerbaijan.

"President and Defense Minister will discuss fight against terrorism on regional and global scale. This two-day visit of Mr. Lieberman to the region is associated the political and military-technical ties of Israel with Azerbaijan and Georgia. He wants to prevent threats to security. It should be noted that Azerbaijan buys advanced military technologies from Israel, and prospects of this cooperation will certainly be one of the important topics of negotiations with Ilham Aliyev and Zakir Hasanov," he said.

Overall, as Arzu Nagiyev stressed, Azerbaijan and Israel have excellent relations in military, political and cultural spheres. "There are a lot of Jewish people living in Azerbaijan, who make up a significant part of the country's community. There are many Jewish schools and synagogues. I think our relations are a great example of ties between Jewish and Muslim countries," he believes.

Military expert Uzeir Jafarov highlighted mutual interest of Azerbaijan and Israel in military-technical cooperation. "Apart from the sale of weapons, Israeli side wants to improve cooperation with military-industrial complex of Azerbaijan. This visit's goal is to sign new agreements in this area," he said.

"Our countries have very warm relations in general. Many Azerbaijanis living in Israel maintain relations with their historical homeland. Mountain Jews in the Quba district live peacefully and integrate into the life of Azerbaijan," he stressed.