On November 20, an official welcome ceremony was held for President of the Republic of Iraq Abdullatif Jamal Rashid, who was on an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Press Office of the Azerbaijani President reported.

One-on-one meeting

On the same day, Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, held a one-on-one meeting with Abdullatif Jamal Rashid.

Aliyev said that the Joint Commission on Economic, Trade, Scientific, Technical, and Cultural Cooperation meeting would be held in Iraq soon, adding that it would play an essential role in further expanding economic and trade relations.

The President of Iraq underlined his country's determination to develop relations with Azerbaijan further, noting that the documents to be signed as part of the visit will significantly contribute to the expansion of ties.

During the meeting, the sides emphasized that both countries always supported each other's positions within international organizations. They noted that Azerbaijan and Iraq had suffered from occupation, but this situation had become history.

During the conversation, the presidents pointed out favorable opportunities for developing cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, energy, culture, science, education, and tourism.

Joint cooperation documents

After the meeting, a ceremony of signing documents was held with the participation of Ilham Aliyev and Abdullatif Jamal Rashid.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan Sahil Babayev and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of the Republic of Iraq Ahmed Jassem Saber Al-Asadi signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Republic of Iraq."

Chairman of the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan Fuad Naghiyev and Chairman of the Tourism Authority of the Republic of Iraq Zafer Mahdi signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of tourism between the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities of the Republic of Iraq."

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq Mohammed Hussein Bahr Al-Uloom signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on political consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq."

Minister of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan Rashad Nabiyev and Head of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Republic of Iraq Imad Al-Asadi signed the "Air Services Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Iraq."

Press statements

After the signing ceremony, Aliyev and Rashid made press statements.

Aliyev noted, "Mr. President will visit also neighboring Armenia. [...] And the next is that we expect – I will inform Mr. President – from Armenia the response to our comments to the proposal. Several times, we exchanged proposals on a draft peace treaty. But now we have waited for more than two months, since September 11, for the Armenian government to respond to us about their opinion on those comments, and we didn't get any answer."

Aliyev also blamed France for a break in the peace process: "I think the reason for that is because they get bad advice, particularly from France. France is playing a very destructive role in the South Caucasus. Actually, Armenia has become a puppet of the French government, and this can be a serious threat to regional stability. We don't need any war. We fought on our own territory and restored justice and international law. But the Armenian government and political establishment think about revenge. The wrong messages from the French government actually create illusions in the Armenian government and maybe in the public opinion that they could again launch a military aggression against Azerbaijan. Weaponizing Armenia, which France is proud of and publicly states, will not help Armenia if they decide to launch another war."

Regarding the bilateral ties, the Azerbaijani leader emphasized, "Coming back to our bilateral ties, I would like to say that we broadly covered the issue of economic cooperation. In two weeks, our delegation will visit Baghdad to hold a new round of meetings of the intergovernmental commission. We have big plans for how to enhance the level of mutual trade. Today, we also discussed issues related to cooperation in the energy area. This issue will also be covered during our delegation's visit next month. We discussed the opportunities for cooperation in the areas of defense industry and tourism. We were informed today at the meeting with the delegations that the first direct flight between our capitals had already started. In the coming weeks, we will probably have direct flights to Kirkuk, Erbil, and Basra. So, we're expecting a large volume of tourism traveling in both directions and, of course, we discussed what additional steps will be taken to have visa facilitation. So, I am sure that the visit will have very good results. We once again reconfirm the friendly relationship between our countries. The continuation of our dialogue, I'm sure, will lead to good new results, and our cooperation will strengthen. So, once again, Mr. President, welcome. Thank you for being with us today."

President Rashid stated, "We have to create a new environment for business in Iraq, and at the same time, business opportunities for Azerbaijan in Iraq. Mr. President, I congratulate you on achieving peace and stability in Azerbaijan. At the same time, I wish you all the luck in finalizing your agreement with Armenia. I think that war and conflicts can only lead to worsening the situation. It cannot solve any problem. I think all our problems must be solved through dialogue, understanding, and cooperation."

The Iraqi leader also talked about the Israel-Palestine conflict in his speech: “Unfortunately, the entire Middle East and even - it has affected the world – we are suffering from a new conflict in the Middle East, which is the rights of Palestinians. The Iraqi position on this issue is very clear. We fully support the rights of all Palestinians whether in West Bank, in Gaza or anywhere in the world. We hope that the Palestinians will achieve their full national rights and be recommended as a state for Palestinians soon.”