Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on November 12 completed his first official visit to neighboring Turkey since his re-election to another five year term.

During the visit President Aliyev visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul awarded the Azerbaijani Head of State with the Turkish State Award and President Aliyev awarded the Turkish president with the Heydar Aliyev order.

As part of his trip the Azerbaijani President visited the Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc and from the control tower watched the flight performances of the Hurkush basic trainer aircraft and the T129 attack helicopter.

President Aliyev also held several meetings with Turkish high-ranking officials.
In particular, he met Chairman of Turkish Grand National Assembly Cemil Cicek, and they discussed the current state of and prospects for friendly and fraternal relations between the two countries.

President Aliyev also met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Later, an official dinner was held in honor of President Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva in Ankara on behalf of Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his spouse Hayrunnisa Gul.

On the second day of the visit, the Azerbaijani President visited the Heydar Aliyev Park. The park which covers a total area of eight hectares was named after national leader Heydar Aliyev in 2008. There is a monument to the national leader in the center of the park.

The same day President Aliyev and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoganattended the 3rd session of Azerbaijan-Turkey high-level strategic cooperation council.

The sides hailed their bilateral relations in a variety of fields, particularly in political, economic and energy.

The Azerbaijani president and the Turkish prime minister stressed the importance of implementation of joint projects. They also noted the significance of further development of cooperation between relevant ministries of the two countries.

After the meeting the two countries signed a variety of bilateral documents.
The Azerbaijani president and Turkish Prime Minister had a meeting as well.
They praised the bilateral relations as friendly and fraternal, saying they were developing in a variety of fields.

They also noted the necessity of boosting cooperation in the field of energy, as well as the significance of global projects in terms of strengthening the regional cooperation.

President Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva and Premier Erdogan and his spouse Emine Erdogan had a joint dinner.

Turkey is the third largest trade partner of Azerbaijan after Russia and the United States.
According to the State Statistics Committee, the volume of Turkish investments in Azerbaijan's economy amounted to 186.34 million manats or 5.5 percent of total foreign investment in January-September 2013.

Currently there are 2,000 companies with Turkish capital operating in Azerbaijan, which makes up 36 percent of all foreign companies operating in the country. The number of companies with Azerbaijani capital in Turkey reached 1,100 by the end of 2012.
As of 2012, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $2.12 billion.

Mutual investments between Azerbaijan and Turkey exceed $10 billion. The amount of Azerbaijani investments in Turkey in the coming years is projected at $21 billion.
According to the estimates, Turkish companies have invested $6.5 billion in Azerbaijan's economy so far.