Ilham Aliyev received the participants of the “Building Bridges” international conference being held in Baku

President Ilham Aliyev has received the former President of the European Commission, Jacques Santer, the former Secretary of State for Transport of France, Thierry Mariani, the former Prime Minister of Turkey, Mesut Yilmaz, the former Minister of Defense of the Netherlands, Willem van Eekelen, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia and member of the European Parliament, Ivo Vajgl, the former Minister of Economic Development of Slovenia, Mitja Gaspari, the former Federal Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure of Germany, Kurt Bodewig, Prince of Denmark Christian zu Schaumburg-Lippe and chairman of the board of the Institute for European Affairs, Jurgen Gramke, who have come to Baku to participate at the “Building Bridges” international conference.

Welcoming the guests, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Welcome, I am very glad to see you. I hope you will have a good time in our country. I know that you have been attending the “Building Bridges” conference. I think that the theme of the conference is great as it reflects the processes ongoing in Azerbaijan. I believe that building bridges between different cultures is an important direction of our foreign policy in the region and the world. Many of you have already been to our country before and are aware of the ancient history and modern development of Azerbaijan. I am very glad that people from different countries are gathered here.

“Our main focus should be on how to build bridges and enhance mutual confidence,” President Aliyev said, adding that the ancient history and modern development of Azerbaijan, which plays an important role in the region, clearly show that understanding should be based only on mutual trust and respect. The President stressed that representatives of all nations and religions have lived in Azerbaijan like one family for centuries and our nation is proud of that.

“The 20th anniversary of our independence which we celebrated last year has strengthened this positive trend,” President Ilham Aliyev said. The President spoke about the overall positive development of our country, its achievements in political and economic reforms. Noting the successful cooperation with European institutions, the President said that Azerbaijan hopes for even greater progress in this area in the future, adding that we can promote the interests of each other. President Aliyev said “we have been doing important work in the field of political transformation, political reform, energy security, infrastructure, transport and humanitarian issues. Along with this, we are actively involved in the operations carried out by the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Pointing to Azerbaijan’s contribution to the cooperation with Euro-Atlantic structures, President Ilham Aliyev touched upon the country’s election to the UN Security Council last year.

- Azerbaijan’s election to the UN Security Council last year was a landmark event not only for our young state. It has also provided us with the opportunity to demonstrate our position, our agenda and how we can support international efforts to create peace and stability. We also have a domestic problem. As you know, our biggest problem is the aggression which has been ongoing for over 20 years. A significant portion of our lands, Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts which have never been inhabited by the Armenians and are not part of Nagorno-Karabakh, are under occupation. An international mediatory group has been in operation for 20 years. But there is no result. There has been a ceasefire aimed to protect the fragile peace in the region for 18 years. But most importantly, we have been unable to achieve the execution of UN Security Council resolutions demanding an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from our lands. This is a very dangerous situation indeed. The situation of neither peace nor war cannot last forever. The Armenians are trying to reinforce the status quo, don’t want to change anything and vacate the occupied lands. They turn a blind eye to the messages of co-chair countries – France, Russia and the USA. The leaders of these countries have send unequivocal messages that the status quo is unacceptable and must be changed. For the status quo to change, they must withdraw. This is really our biggest problem. It is also a problem for regional stability and security. Because the conflict is not frozen but peace is extremely fragile. I am sure that you will have some interesting discussions during your meetings. I do hope that you will have the opportunity to receive more information about Azerbaijan and see our development.

The chairman of the board of the Institute for European Affairs, Jurgen Gramke, pointed to a high level of organization of the “Building Bridges” conference, being held in Baku on the initiative of the Azerbaijan Civil Society Development Association and the Institute for European Affairs. Touching upon its activity directions, he said:

- Our activity directions are as follows. Promoting the image, infrastructure directions, presentation of all this internationally and, finally, innovation. We will have four panels – political affairs, economy, sports and education. As I said, we intend to introduce these internationally. You are making consistent progress in building bridges internationally. I believe that politics, economics, sport and education are highly important areas. Some of us have come to Baku for the first time. We wish you and your people all the best. We have had very exciting time here. Thank you very much.

Then a picture was taken.