On December 21, Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, held a one-on-one meeting with Aleksandar Vučić, the President of the Republic of Serbia, who is on a working visit to Azerbaijan, the Press Office of the Azerbaijani President reported.

Following the one-on-one meeting, Ilham Aliyev and Aleksandar Vučić made press statements.

President Aliyev stated: "Taking advantage of such wonderful relations of strategic partnership and, at the same time, our personal, friendly relations, we do hope this will produce a result in all areas, of course – first of all, in trade. I am sure that the implementation of the agreements reached will increase the volume of trade. It is not at the desired level yet. There is great potential in the field of transport and logistics, especially if we take into account that international transport corridors pass through the territories of Azerbaijan and Serbia. Our relevant institutions should work hard to create alignments and connections. Contacts have already been established between relevant institutions of our countries."

"Of course, the energy sector is a part of our cooperation. The importance of this area has been on the increase lately. Azerbaijan's natural resources are already being exported in various directions, including the European continent and countries that are Serbia's neighbors. There are opportunities for cooperation in both natural gas and electricity. Relevant negotiations have been held. I am sure that tangible steps will be taken to export Azerbaijan's electricity to Serbia starting next year," he added.

President Aleksandar Vucic said: "I know countries with ten times more oil and gas reserves than Azerbaijan, and their situation is ten times worse than Azerbaijan's. This indicates the power of the country's leadership, the foresight of President Aliyev, and his familiarity with the challenges facing Azerbaijan and the modern world. It shows how you can make a difference with a country's leadership with a good vision. Again, I want to share a short story with you. During a visit to Libya in 1971-1972, the elderly Sheikh Bin Zayed from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said that he hoped his country could be like Libya in 40 years. Libya has five times more oil than the UAE. But look at the situation of one country and then at the situation of the other. I am sure that President Aliyev has demonstrated the difference between himself and many of us and countries with a larger volume of natural resources and raw materials than Azerbaijan. We are witnessing a situation where a country is led with love, which is the case with President Aliyev. I am not saying this because we need gas and electricity as much as Europe. No, we need less. We do need these resources, but we can live without them. I say this because I sincerely sympathize with President Aliyev and the results of his work. When he visited Belgrade, he told me he could hardly recognize some parts of the city. Then I realized that when you visit a place you don't live in, you can witness the development of that country or city."

"We have discussed all forms of cooperation. We have a solid and sincere friendship. It is impossible to turn Azerbaijan against Serbia or Serbia against Azerbaijan. This is impossible. No one can do such a thing, nor is there any pressure on anyone to do so. We support each other's territorial integrity," he added.

Serbian President stated, "We are talking about our joint activities, the exchange of technology in the defense industry, and working on some products that we can take to the markets of third countries together. Because I think that if we have a joint approach, we, as Serbia and Azerbaijan, have great potential. Therefore we are meeting for the second time in one month. Serbian delegations will visit Azerbaijan often, and an Azerbaijani delegation will visit Belgrade in a few days. I have had a very productive discussion with the Minister of Defense Industry. I believe that together with representatives of the defense industry, we have learned a lot from Azerbaijan about the activities of the armed forces, as well as the structure of the armed forces."

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