Ilham Aliyev and Xi Jinping meets in Astana

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held a meeting with President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping in Astana on July 3, the Azerbaijani presidential press service reported.

Speaking at the meeting, Xi Jinping expressed confidense that under Ilham Aliyev's leadership, Azerbaijan will continue to achieve new accomplishments in various aspects of state-building. He noted that Beijing-Baku relations are based on sincerity and mutual trust, while China and Azerbaijan are good friends and good partners, grounded in equality and mutual benefit.

According to him, cooperation between the two countries has yielded effective results and reached a richer strategic content. Xi said he will continue to enhance mutual support for the prosperity of their peoples.

 Ilham Aliyev said the turnover of goods between their countries has reached $3 billion and has the potential for further growth. Exports from China to Azerbaijan also increased.

The Azerbaijani head of state emphasized that Azerbaijan always supported the One China Policy. They noted that the elections held in Taiwan were condemned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, while China also expressed its support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

Xi Jinping expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan for always supporting the One China policy. It was highlighted that the positions of the two countries on the fight against extremism and separatism overlapped.

© Photo: the Azerbaijani presidential website

President Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan attached great importance to multilateralism, a multilateral diplomacy, and noted that Azerbaijan was a supporter of the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

It was emphasized that increasing the status of Azerbaijan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was supported by China. The sides noted that special attention would be paid to this issue within the framework of China's chairmanship next year.

Xi Jinping invited the President of Azerbaijan to the Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to be held in China, and also to pay a state visit to China. Ilham Aliyev accepted the invitation and invited the Chinese President to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan at a convenient time.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan was one of the first countries to support and join the One Belt, One Road project. The country’s transport and logistical capabilities, the successes Azerbaijan has achieved thanks to its investments in this field and its continuous improvement were also acknowledged. The sides emphasized in this regard that the capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway would be increased to 5 million tons, whereas the loading capacity of the Alat International Trade Seaport would grow from 15 million to 25 million tons.

Touching upon the cooperation between Azerbaijan and China within the framework of the Middle Corridor, the heads of state exchanged views on the positive impact of the digitization of this corridor on the volume of cargo proceeding from Central Asian countries to the West and from the West to China and Central Asia.

The heads of state touched upon the fraternal relations between cities of the two countries. They emphasized that six cities of Azerbaijan had relations with various cities and regions of China. The humanitarian and cultural relations between Azerbaijan and China were also discussed. 

In order to expand cooperation in the field of tourism and increase people-to-people contacts, the sides pointed to Azerbaijan’s unilateral elimination of visas for Chinese citizens and expressed hope that this would give a serious impetus to contacts between the two countries and people. Xi Jinping said that the Chinese side would also consider applying visa-free travel for Azerbaijani citizens so that contacts between the two countries and people could further increase.

The President of the People's Republic of China conveyed his congratulations on the occasion of COP29 to be held in Azerbaijan and said that his country would be represented at this event at a high level. Jinping said that Azerbaijan as President of COP29 and China were part of the Global South.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed his gratitude to China for supporting the development of cooperation with BRICS, as well as supporting Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the SCO. 

Within the framework of the SCO Summit, the presidents adopted the “Joint Declaration on the establishment of strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and China”.