President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov have held a one-on-one meeting.

President Ilham Aliyev welcomed Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.

They then posed for official photos.

Welcoming the guest, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:

- Dear Prime Minister, you are welcome! Thank you for coming.

Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov: Thank you very much!

President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you for the opportunity to meet in person. We have talked on the phone many times to discuss very important issues related to our bilateral relations. I am glad that you are currently visiting our country. Thus, we have more opportunities and time to exchange ideas on the development of our cooperation.

Bulgaria and Azerbaijan are strategic partners. We have signed a relevant declaration relatively recently. In short, this is a very high level of cooperation. Of course, our strategic cooperation covers many areas, including energy security. This is currently one of the top topics on the global agenda. These and other issues will be discussed today. I am glad that we have established cooperation in the field of energy. There is already a direct line to Bulgaria along the Southern Gas Corridor. This, of course, is a long-term cooperation that will have great potential in the future – not only energy but also other areas such as trade, investment, creation of joint ventures, tourism.

There are many areas to be discussed between friends. Our countries are friends. I am sure that this friendship will strengthen in the future. Welcome again!

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Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov said:

- Thank you, President Aliyev. First of all, I would like to thank you for being a true friend during our time of need over the past six months. This is exactly what friendship should be like. I also fully understand that the friendship between our countries has a long history and covers many fields. I learned with great pleasure that we can even discuss other issues not related to the energy field – technology, information technologies, agriculture, construction.

I am very impressed with the work you have done over the past years. You have managed to build three international airports and become a hub between East and West.

Bulgaria is a member of the European Union. You can count on Bulgaria not only bilaterally, but also as a member of the European Union. We are also a member of the Council of the European Union. So I think that if we are together, the horizons will look very wide and promising.