Ilham Aliyev received credentials of incoming Lithuanian ambassador

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has accepted credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania Egidijus Navikas.

Ambassador Egidijus Navikas reviewed a guard of honor.

Egidijus Navikas presented his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.

Speaking with the Ambassador, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Welcome to Azerbaijan. I wish you a pleasant stay in our country. I am sure that during your work in Azerbaijan, our traditionally friendly relations will continue to develop successfully and encompass new areas. We are already good partners and old friends, we have known each other for a very long time and have been actively cooperating for a long time. You probably know about my contacts with President Mr. Adamkus, whom we very often met in both Baku and Vilnius, as well as with President Grybauskaite, with whom we also had very good relations. So the history of our relations is quite positive. But I think that you will have a lot of work to do in order to move our relations forward.

The cooperation has traditional and new areas. Of course, from a trade and economic point of view, I think there is something to work on, to increase commodity circulation. Maybe to create some kind of working groups in order to think about how we can increase trade and economic ties. And in all other areas, we are committed to continuing traditional cooperation and strengthening partnerships. Collaboration should be focused on concrete results. So I wish you a good stay and active work in Azerbaijan.

Ambassador Egidijus Navikas said:

- Thank you very much, Mr. President. First of all, I would like to convey to you the best wishes from President of Lithuania Mr. Gitanas Nauseda and an invitation to visit Lithuania. Of course, it is a great honor for me and I am very pleased to be the ambassador to Azerbaijan. I am very glad that, as you have already mentioned, we have a solid base, a solid foundation of friendly relations and cooperation. I have already noticed very good, positive contacts between our peoples here in Baku.

The ambassador noted that the high-level political dialogue between Azerbaijan and Lithuania is satisfying. Egidijus Navikas said that there are good opportunities for developing bilateral relations in various fields, including economic cooperation. Touching upon the importance of relations between cities in the development of cooperation between our countries, the ambassador emphasized that twin relations have been established between three cities of Lithuania and Azerbaijan. The ambassador touched on Azerbaijan's ties with the European Union and added that his country is closely cooperating with Azerbaijan within the framework of twinning projects of the European Union.

The head of state noted that cooperation between the European Union and Azerbaijan is comprehensively developing. Recalling the visits of the leadership of the European Union to Azerbaijan over the past period and his visit to the headquarters of the European Union, the President emphasized that the support provided by the member countries of the European Union for the development of this cooperation is highly appreciated.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked for President Gitanas Nauseda`s greetings and asked Egidijus Navikas to convey his greetings to the President of Lithuania.