Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has paid a visit to Baku to hold talks with Azerbaijani leaders.

On July 17 President Ilham Aliyev received the Turkish Foreign Minister, AzerTag state news agency reported.

Davutoglu conveyed greetings and Ramadan congratulations of Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Azerbaijani President.

The parties hailed overall development of the Azerbaijan-Turkey relations and expressed confidence that they would further strengthen.

President Aliyev and Minister Davutoglu explored prospects for expansion of Azerbaijan-Turkey political, economic and energy cooperation.

The Azerbaijani President expressed his gratitude for the greetings and congratulations of the Turkish President and PM and asked the Foreign Minister to convey his greetings to them as well.

On the same day, Davutoglu met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. The two ministers mulled issues of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Turkish minister said that he had held productive meetings with the Azerbaijani President and Foreign Minister.

"The sides reached agreement on the exchange of experience between officials of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries.

"Azerbaijan and Turkey are two fraternal countries and there is no example of such close cooperation between two countries in the world," Davutoglu said.

"There are big plans for cooperation and we now have the practical results of this cooperation between our two countries," he said.

Davutoglu also underlined that contemporary Azerbaijan is the success of the country's government.

According to Davutoglu, Turkey is following the economic growth and development of Azerbaijan.

Regarding the relations between the two countries, Davutoglu said that Turkey has always supported and will support Azerbaijan.

According to him, the next meeting of Azerbaijan-Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council will be held in Baku in November.

The Turkish Foreign Minister also thanked Azerbaijan for its support for Istanbul's bid to host the Olympic Games.

Also, issues of economic cooperation were discussed during the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish foreign ministers.

In this regard, Mammadyarov stressed that Turkey should be more active in the implementation of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project (TANAP).

The TANAP project envisages construction of a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border to supply gas from Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Caspian Sea. Initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters per year. Around 6 billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to European markets.

The minister also said that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia have agreed to expedite the process of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway construction.

Also on July 17, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade met with the Turkish Foreign Minister.

Rasizade said that the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations in all fields are at a high level.

The Prime Minister said that this visit will serve the development of relations between the two brotherly countries.

In turn, the Turkish Foreign Minister noted that he frequently visits Azerbaijan as part of major international events hosted by the country, as well as mutual visits, expressing his satisfaction with visiting Azerbaijan again.

The sides also exchanged views on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other developments in the region.

The same day, Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov met with Minister Davutoglu.

During the meeting, Speaker Asadov spoke about the increasingly developing relations between the two fraternal countries.

He noted that the establishment of the Turkey-Azerbaijan strategic cooperation council stimulated bilateral relations' entering a new stage.

Regarding the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations, Asadov said that mutual visits of the heads of state play a special role in the development of relations between the two countries. Noting that about 180 bilateral documents have been signed during these visits, the parliament speaker said that 19 new documents will be signed in the near future.

Stressing the highest-level legal and political relations between the two countries, Asadov said the economic relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are rapidly developing as well.

According to Asadov, the trade turnover between the two countries exceeded $2.5 billion last year and mutual investments between governments are growing day by day.

He said that the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is capable to invest about $18 billion in Turkey's economy by 2018.

"36 percent of investments in our country have been carried out by Turkish companies. The non-oil sector accounts for most of these investments. Currently, more than 800 Azerbaijani companies operate in Turkey," he added.

Asadov said that Azerbaijan and Turkey always support each other in international organizations.

On the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the speaker said that Azerbaijan enjoys the main support in the solution of this problem from Turkey.

In turn, the Turkish Foreign Minister said he is proud of the rampant development of Azerbaijan he has witnessed on his every visit to the country.

Davutoglu emphasized that the two brotherly countries have jointly realized very important projects, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum oil and gas pipelines and Baku-Tibilisi-Kars railway.

The Minister also said that exchange of diplomats will be carried out between Azerbaijan and Turkey in the near future.

Stressing that Turkey has always supported the just position of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Davutoglu said that Azerbaijan's territorial integrity must be guaranteed in order to restore peace in the South Caucasus.

The Turkish minister also said the comprehensive cooperation with Azerbaijan will be further developed.