BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 18. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has shared details of his meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, expressing gratitude to the Azerbaijani leader and the people of Azerbaijan for their continued support for Ukraine.
Yushchenko wrote about the meeting on his Facebook account, describing his conversation with President Aliyev as warm, sincere and substantive.
“I was very pleased to have a personal, extremely sincere and substantive meeting with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. With the participation of Ukraine’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Yuriy Husyev, we exchanged views as true friends and reliable partners of our two peoples,” Yushchenko said.
The former Ukrainian president recalled that his friendship with Azerbaijan dates back to 1989, when he met Heydar Aliyev in Nakhchivan and established friendly relations with him.
“For me, the history of this friendship began back in 1989 with my acquaintance and friendship with Heydar Aliyev in Nakhchivan. President Ilham Aliyev and I have been united for more than 20 years by personal friendship and joint efforts to strengthen Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations,” he said.
Yushchenko highlighted the formal establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries as one of the important outcomes of these relations.
He recalled that during President Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to Kyiv on May 22, 2008, the two leaders signed a Declaration on Friendship and Strategic Partnership between Ukraine and Azerbaijan. According to Yushchenko, the document established the strategic nature of bilateral relations and laid a solid foundation for their further development.
The former president said his latest meeting with Aliyev focused on the present and future of both countries, the development of bilateral cooperation and specific projects that their respective teams would continue working on.
Yushchenko expressed particular gratitude for Azerbaijan’s assistance to Ukraine.
“I would like to express special thanks to President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan for their consistent support for Ukraine, humanitarian assistance, care for Ukrainian children, as well as their unwavering respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state,” he said.
Yushchenko also thanked the diplomatic representatives involved in organizing the visit and expressed confidence that the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Azerbaijan would continue to develop on the basis of mutual trust and respect.
“I highly value our friendship and am confident that the strategic partnership, mutual trust and respect between Ukraine and Azerbaijan will continue to be reflected in important joint initiatives,” he added.
