BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. The waiver of Section 907 is a historic event, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during an interview with the Azerbaijani press in Washington.
"I have a very good assessment of the results of the visit. First of all, coming to America on a working visit at the invitation of President Trump is, of course, a very important development for Azerbaijani-American relations. I can say that a new page is opening in American-Azerbaijani relations today – a page of cooperation and strategic partnership. Of course, establishing relations with the United States of America at this level is a very important issue for the protection of Azerbaijan's national interests.
My meeting with President Trump was very sincere. I can say that it was held in a friendly atmosphere. Many important issues were discussed. In addition, as you may know, a Strategic Working Group has been established to prepare the Strategic Partnership Charter, and of course, this document is of tremendous importance. The directions of future cooperation are clearly defined in it. These include cooperation in mutual investment, energy, transport, communications, transit, security, artificial intelligence, the defense industry and defense, and other areas. In other words, simply listing these directions shows just how extensive the opportunities opening up before our country are, and the composition of the group that will represent the Azerbaijani side has already been determined on my instruction. We will put forward our proposals. Meetings have already been held with several leading American companies within the framework of my visit. In other words, we do not want to waste any time. I consider the four years of the previous administration as lost years because, unfortunately, during the Biden administration, American-Azerbaijani relations became hostage to Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. The achievements and the potential we had with the United States of America in previous years were almost frozen. Therefore, we cannot waste any time now. The audience may have felt the positive attitude of Mr. Trump, his administration, and his team towards Azerbaijan from the meetings we held and the atmosphere of the press conference.
This positive attitude, of course, is a very important factor. From this point of view, the visit is of great importance. This is my first meeting with President Trump. I want to say again that the meeting was very sincere. To be honest, I was surprised by his knowledge of Azerbaijan. He has quite in-depth knowledge of many issues. Mr. Trump knows very well the importance of Azerbaijan, its geopolitical importance, and the fact that Azerbaijan has always been a friendly country to the United States of America. Of course, personal contacts will play an important role in our relations. Of course, I do believe that the waiver of Section 907 is a historic event. I also believe that we have already started a strategic cooperation format. Therefore, I am very pleased with the results of the visit, and I am sure that tangible results of this visit will manifest themselves in the near future," said President Ilham Aliyev.