The Embassy of the republic of Azerbaijan

2007

February 21-23 – The Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Abulfas Garayev made a working visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt in order to attend the Ballet of “One Thousand and One Nights” held in the Cairo Opera House for the first time.

During the visit he has held meetings with the Minister of International Cooperation, Fayza Abualnaga, Foreign Minister, Ahmad Abul Gheit, Minister of Culture, Farouk Husni.

May 06-07 - The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H.E. Ilham Aliyev made an official visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt. He was officially welcomed by the President of ARE Hosni Mubarak at his residence in Cairo and had a one-on-one meeting.

The one-on-one meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Egypt was continued in the presence of the two countries’ official delegations.
The parties pointed to successful development of bilateral relations in political, economic and other spheres, especially stressing the high level of the two countries’ cooperation within international organizations. Effective use of the existing potential to expand economic cooperation was qualified as necessary and useful for both sides.
They also touched upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. President Mubarak particularly emphasized that his country supports territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and stands for the problem’s peaceful and fair resolution based on the international legal norms and the principle of inviolability of borders.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has also met with Rector of the world-renowned Al-Azhar Al-Shareef University Sheik Mohammad Tantavi.
Sheik Mohammad Tantavi said this visit by the President of Azerbaijan will enhance the two countries’ cooperation in the fields of science and education, noting 76 student from Azerbaijan are currently studying at the university. He also provided the Azerbaijani leader with information about history of the university, its structure and departments.

President Ilham Aliyev later attended the opening ceremony of a building for Azerbaijani Embassy in Cairo. The President and accompanying Prime Minister of Egypt Ahmad Nazif unveiled the plaque reading “Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan” and cut the ribbon symbolizing official opening of the new building.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev laid a wreath at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Cairo.
The Azerbaijani leader also paid respect to former Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat who was assassinated during the annual 6th October victory parade in Cairo in 1981.

President Ilham Aliyev met with the Prime Minister of Egypt Ahmed Nazif. The parties expressed satisfaction with existent level of economic ties between the two countries, noting greater potential for deepening these relations.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with Ahmed Fathi Surur, Speaker of the People’s Assembly of Egypt. Mr. Ahmed Fathi Surur highly estimating his visit to Egypt and stressed necessity of expansion of inter-parliamentary links.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan met with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAG) Amr Moussa. President Aliyev and Secretary-General Amr Moussa discussed the existent level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and LAG and prospects of the further expansion of relations.The parties expressed satisfaction with Azerbaijan’s cooperation with LAG, saying 7 embassies of this country opened in member-states of the League.

The intergovernmental documents between Azerbaijan and Egypt were signed May 7 at the building of the Council of Ministers of Egypt in Cairo with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Egypt Ahmed Nazif in attendance.

The following documents were signed: Agreement on sports cooperation between Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Youth and Sports and Egypt’s National Sports Committee, agreement on cooperation between the Justice Ministries of Azerbaijan and Egypt, Agreement on cooperation between the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture and Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Agreement on international money transfer between the postal agencies of Azerbaijan and Egypt, Agreement on cooperation between the State Telegraph Agency of Azerbaijan (AzerTAg) and Middle East News Agency of Egypt (MENA), Memorandum of understanding in the tourism sector between the Governments of Azerbaijan and Egypt, Memorandum of Understanding between Interior Ministries of Azerbaijan and Egypt, Technical cooperation protocol between the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan and Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, Memorandum of understanding between Absheron Executive Power of Azerbaijan and Al Qalyubiyah Governorate of Egypt, Memorandum of Understanding between M. F. Akhundov National Library of Azerbaijan and Alexandria Library of Egypt, Additional Protocol to the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan and Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies of Egypt, Additional protocol to the agreement on air transport cooperation between the AZAL state concern and Egypt’s Civil Aviation Authority.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has today met with the ambassadors of LAG (the League of the Arab States).

Azerbaijan President met with Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, co-chairwoman of the Egypt-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission Fayza Aboulnaga.

July 04 - The delegation from Absheron, the biggest governorate in Azerbaijan, led by Governor Farajov Zakir arrived in Cairo today on a five-day visit by the invitation of Qalyubieh Governor Adly Hussein.

The memorandum of understanding between Absheron and Qalyubieh governorates was signed in order to foster cooperation in all domains during the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev's visit to Egypt in May.

The delegation will meet with Fayza Abualnaga, Minister of International Cooperation, next Wednesday and Saturday to mull prospects of cooperation in preparation for convening the third round of the joint inter-governmental committee in Baku next November. Abualnaga is to head the Egyptian delegation to the committee meeting.

The delegation, which comprises officials from health, education, cultural, reconstruction departments along with a host of businessmen, will also meet with representatives from the Ministries of Health, Education, and Culture as well as heads of the Arab Contractors company, the Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors, Ghabour Egypt for manufacturing busses, Crystal Asfour, and Toshiba-Egypt.

The delegation also toured Qalyubieh Governorate.

There are steps taken as well to set up a joint venture in Azerbaijan for producing vaccines with Egyptian State Company Vaxera.

The reception in the honour of delegation was held in the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan on July 5. The Heads of foreign missions accredited in Egypt and local media representatives were also invited to the Embassy.

The meeting with the participation of the delegation and local authorities has been held in the "Nile Hilton" hotel.

October 22 - The Chairman of the Egypt-Azerbaijan parliamentary friendship group Ahmad Omar Hashim and the delegation visited Azerbaijan. The aim of their visit to Azerbaijan is to develop bilateral ties even more.
In the framework of the visit, members of the Egypt-Azeri parliament friendship group accompanied by the Azeri parliamentarians have visited the Alley of Honors in Baku to revere memory of the nationwide leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev.
The Egyptian delegation laid flowers on the great leader`s tomb. They also commemorated the renowned ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva.

members of the Egypt-Azerbaijan parliamentary friendship group have today come to Azerbaijan’s Parliament building. They got acquainted with the meeting hall and the Heydar Aliyev Museum.
The visitors have met with members of the Milli Majlis’s Azerbaijan - Egypt parliamentary friendship group.
Head of the group Miri Ganbarov said the current state of friendship relations between the two countries are at a high level.

Chairman of the Egypt-Azerbaijan parliamentary friendship group Ahmad Omar Hashim extended greetings of Egypt’s President and leadership of the Parliament.
The Egyptian MP said his country supports Azerbaijan’s fair stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The MPs also exchanged views on prospects of development of Inter-parliamentary ties, and activities of the friendship groups in this regard.

December 24 - Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandria, Dr. Ismail Serageldin visited Azerbaijan in order to discuss the ways of strengthening the cooperation in the framework of implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Azerbaijan National Library named after M.F.Akhundov and the Bibliotheca Alexandria which has been signed during the official visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E. Ilham Aliyev to the Arab Republic of Egypt on May, 2007.
Dr. Ismail Serageldin visited the Alley of Honors to revere the memory of the nationwide leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and renowned academician Zarifa Khanum Aliyeva, laid flower on their tombs. He also visited the Alley of Martyrs, commemorated brave sons of Azerbaijan who sacrificed their lives for independence and territorial integrity of the country and laid flower on their graves.
Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev held the meeting with Dr. Ismail Serageldin. Having addressed the meeting, Minister Garayev updated the guest on the care showed by the President Ilham Aliyev towards development of the culture and tourism of the country, as well as improvement of the works of the libraries. Minister Garayev highlighted that about 40 executive orders concerning these matters were signed by he President.
Saying about the cultural relations between Azerbaijan and Egypt, Mr. Garayev noted that holding of the Azerbaijan’s Days of Culture in Egypt and Egypt’s Weeks of Movies in Azerbaijan current year prove established progress in this field.
He also met with the employees of the Azerbaijan National Library and closely familiarized himself with its work.
Dr. Serageldin mentioned that under the meeting the Library of Alexandria and Azerbaijan’s National Library will sign protocol of cooperation.
The Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Egypt, Faig Bagirov and the Egyptian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Yusif Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Sharkawi were present at the event.
Ismail Serageldin held a news conference to brief for journalists.
He also visited the Presidential Library in Baku as part of his Azerbaijan trip. He was informed about the library`s projects, electronic publications and electronic-bibliographical database.
Serageldin was presented a book from the collection of the Presidential Library.
The Director of Library of Alexandria signed the library`s guest book.

December 26-30 - Egypt-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission convened its third meeting in Baku. Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development Heydar Babayev provided information about ongoing reforms and accomplishments achieved in Azerbaijan. The meeting also focused on the outlook for cooperation between the two countries.
Ministers Babayev and El Naga signed the agreement concerning fight against customs offences, and protocols on establishment of the Azerbaijan-Egypt Research Center, on cooperation between Azerbaijan’s Manuscripts Institute and Egypt’s National Library, and archives, on the results of the 3rd meeting of the intergovernmental commission as well as the memorandum of understanding in the field of television and radio.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the Egyptian delegation led by Minister of International Cooperation of this country Mrs. Fayza Aboul Naga.
President Ilham Aliyev noted successful development of the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Egypt, in particular, in the economic field. The President recalled his visit to Egypt and meetings there, stressing their importance for expansion of inter-state relations.
Mrs. Fayza Aboul Naga conveyed greetings and holiday wishes of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the Azerbaijani President. The two sides are pleased with the development of bilateral relations, the Minister said and handed over the letter of Hosni Mubarak to the President of Azerbaijan.
Head of the Azerbaijan State expressed gratitude for warm greetings and congratulations from his Egyptian counterpart and requested to convey his greetings to Mr. Hosni Mubarak as well.
Egyptian delegation led by Minister of International Cooperation Mrs. Fayza Aboul Naga has also visited the Alley of Honors in Baku to lay flowers at the graves of the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and his wife Academician Zarifa Aliyeva. A delegation visited the Martyrs’ Alley to pay respect to the brave sons of Azerbaijan who died for the country’s independence and territorial integrity and laid a wreath at the “Eternal Fire” monument.
The guests were accompanied by Minister of Economic Development Heydar Babayev, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Egypt Faig Bagirov and Ambassador of Egypt to Azerbaijan Yusif Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Sharkavi.
The Azerbaijan-Egypt business forum was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Baku. The forum brought together representatives of about thirty Azerbaijani and fifteen Egyptian companies specializing in a wide range of spheres, including trade, oil producing, construction and pharmaceutics.
Addressing the event, Midhat Sharawi, Chairman of the Board of the Egyptian International Trade Company, AKDIMA, and Ibrahim Muhammad Shamlola, an official at the Egypt`s Authority for Investments, stressed the role of business forums in enhancing relations between the two countries` businessmen.
Emil Majidov, President of the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) spoke of current investment environment in Azerbaijan.
The meeting continued with bilateral meetings of Azerbaijani and Egyptian businessmen.

Azerbaijan`s Prime Minister Artur Rasizade met with Egypt`s Minister for International Cooperation Faiza Abu El Naga. The Egyptian Minister expressed satisfaction with results of her meetings in Baku. Faiza Abu El Naga said Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev`s visit to Egypt this year gave the impetus to the development of bilateral relations between the two countries. Artur Rasizade spoke of Azerbaijan`s economic development.
He informed the Egyptian Minister about regional economic and transport projects.

Chairman of Milli Majlis (Azerbaijan Parliament) Ogtay Asadov met with Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Faiza Abu El Naga. He underlined the documents signed during President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Egypt have created a strong legal basis for development of cooperation between the two states.
Chairman also spoke about the interparliamentary relations, and welcomed the recent visit of the members of the Egypt-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary friendship group to Azerbaijan. She highlighted the twinning arrangement signed between the Egypt’s Qalyubia Governorate and Azerbaijan’s Absheron region.
Egyptian Minister underlined the monument to Azerbaijan’s nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev was mounted in one of the central streets of Qalyubia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Elmar Mammadyarov also met with Minister, Fayza Aboul Naga. Minister Mamadyarov highly appreciated the political cooperation between the two states and mutual support within international organizations.
The sides expressed satisfaction with the level of relations in humanitarian and cultural fields, and stressed the importance of strengthening the economic cooperation and developing ties in the field of health, education, information technologies and transport.
Faiza Abu El Naga said Egypt will continue to support Azerbaijan’s just position on the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the country`s territorial integrity.

Azerbaijan`s Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov also met with Minister of International Cooperation of Egypt and the delegation.
The meeting discussed tasks arising from the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two ministries in 2005, and Azerbaijan`s program to launch an artificial satellite.
Faiza Abu El Naga praised the development of ICT sector in Azerbaijan.