BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 18. Former Ukrainian
President Viktor Yushchenko shared a post about his meeting with
the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. He
expressed gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijani
people for their support of Ukraine.


This was reported by Viktor Yushchenko on his Facebook page.


He stated that he had a personal, sincere, and substantive
meeting with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham
Aliyev:


“I was very pleased to have a personal, sincere, and substantive
meeting with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham
Aliyev. With the participation of Ukraine’s Ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Yuriy Husyev, we exchanged views as true friends and
reliable partners of our two nations.”


Yushchenko noted that the history of his friendship with
Azerbaijan began in 1989 when he met Heydar Aliyev in Nakhchivan
and established friendly relations:


“For me, the story of this friendship began in 1989 in
Nakhchivan, when I met Heydar Aliyev, and we became friends.
President Ilham Aliyev and I are united by a personal friendship
that has lasted more than 20 years, as well as by our joint efforts
aimed at strengthening Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations.”


He described the official establishment of a strategic
partnership between the two countries as one of the key outcomes of
this work:


“One of the key outcomes of this work was the official
establishment of a strategic partnership between our countries. On
May 22, 2008, during President Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to
Kyiv, we signed the Declaration on Friendship and Strategic
Partnership between Ukraine and the Republic of Azerbaijan. This
document defined the strategic nature of our bilateral relations
and laid a solid foundation for their further development.”


According to Yushchenko, the meeting focused on the future of
the two countries, the development of bilateral cooperation, and
specific projects:


“During today’s meeting, we discussed the present and future of
our countries, the development of bilateral cooperation, as well as
specific projects that our teams will continue to work on.”


The former Ukrainian president thanked the Azerbaijani side for
its support of Ukraine:


“I would like to express my special gratitude to President Ilham
Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan for their unwavering support of
Ukraine, their humanitarian aid, their care for Ukrainian children,
and their steadfast respect for the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of our state.”


Yushchenko also expressed his gratitude to the diplomatic
representatives who helped organize the visit.


“I highly value our friendship and am confident that the
strategic partnership, mutual trust, and respect between Ukraine
and Azerbaijan will continue to be reflected in our important joint
efforts.”