In recent years, traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and China have grown dynamically, Azerbaijani MFA spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said in his response to the local media inquiry on bilateral and multilateral meetings of President Ilham Aliyev in Astana, Report informs.
According to him, sincere friendship and cooperation between the leaders of Azerbaijan and China gave a significant boost to the development of interstate relations, and this meeting once again demonstrated that Azerbaijani-Chinese political relations are at the highest level in their history:
“China has continuously supported Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and Azerbaijan has stood by the ‘One China’ policy. During the meeting, the heads of state of Azerbaijan and China decided to elevate relations between our countries to a qualitatively new level of strategic partnership, based on the principles of mutual respect, equality, trust, mutual support, mutual benefit, and cooperation, and made a Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership.
Furthermore, the signed ‘Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the development of Trans-Caspian International Transport Routes for the China-Europe Railway Express,’ as well as the ‘Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China on the joint acceleration of the formation of a cooperation plan for the Belt and Road Initiative’ are evidence of the rising development of relations between the two countries.”
It is also undoubtedly that the invitations of the two countries’ leaders to pay reciprocal state visits to Azerbaijan and China will further contribute to the development of relations, Hajizada emphasized adding: “We are confident that the Azerbaijani-Chinese strategic partnership will bring new dynamics both on a bilateral basis and within regional and international organizations to increase contacts, intensify exchanges, and thus comprehensively deepen our cooperation. At the same time, our strategic partnership will accelerate our cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, transport, investments, and many other areas to reach a new level both quantitatively and qualitatively.”