BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 19. Elchin Amirbayov, Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on special assignments, held meetings with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, President Taye Atske Selassie, Speaker of Parliament Tagesse Chafo, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gedion Timotheos, Trend reports.
During the talks, the current state of relations between the two countries and opportunities for their development were discussed in detail. Emphasizing that our country attaches particular importance to expanding ties with the African continent, Elchin Amirbayov expressed satisfaction with the recent dynamic development of cooperation with Ethiopia in various areas at the bilateral and multilateral levels and informed the other side of the significant potential for improving relations.
The President's representative noted the special significance of the meeting between the presidents of the two countries, which took place last November in Baku within the framework of the Conference of the Parties (COP29). Recalling that specific areas of bilateral cooperation were identified at the above-mentioned meeting, Amirbayov expressed Azerbaijan's readiness to continue cooperation with Ethiopia in organizing subsequent mutual visits by high-level delegations. In this regard, attention was drawn to President Ilham Aliyev's invitation to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia to visit Azerbaijan.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali expressed his gratitude to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for the invitation and stated that he would be delighted to visit our country. Highly appreciating Azerbaijan's activities in various areas in Ethiopia, the Prime Minister emphasized that he considers our country a reliable and sincere friend, and expressed his gratitude to the official Baku for its contribution to improving the quality of public services in the country, especially through the implementation of the “ASAN Khidmet” model. The Prime Minister noted the vast potential for deepening cooperation between our countries in the fields of agriculture, mining, education, defense and military industries, renewable energy, trade, and investment, and expressed his readiness to cooperate closely with Azerbaijan in all these areas.
The Prime Minister also mentioned Azerbaijan's successful experience at the COP29 conference and asked to provide substantial support in organizing the COP32 conference in Ethiopia. Elchin Amirbayov, in turn, congratulated the other side on its decision to chair the COP32 conference and stressed that Azerbaijan is ready to exchange experience and information with Ethiopia in organizing the event.
During the meeting, the officials conveyed their sincere congratulations to the Azerbaijani side on the progress achieved in the process of normalizing relations with Armenia, and also expressed their deep respect and best wishes to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.
President Taye Atske Selassie, recalling his sincere and fruitful meeting with the President of Azerbaijan in Baku last year, noted that this exchange of views gave an important impetus to the development of relations between the two countries at a new stage. The President expressed his readiness to provide all-around support for the development of bilateral relations with Azerbaijan, which he considers his friend.
Foreign Minister Gedion Timotheos expressed interest in enriching the legal framework for cooperation with Azerbaijan as a loyal partner and expanding this cooperation in new practical areas.
During a meeting with Speaker of Parliament Tagesse Chafo, Amirbayov touched upon the importance of interparliamentary contacts for strengthening relations between the peoples. The Speaker highly appreciated the positive dynamics observed recently in bilateral parliamentary cooperation through friendship groups and expressed interest in expanding inter-parliamentary interaction in bilateral and multilateral formats.
Amirbayov also held a meeting with African Union Commission Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf during his visit. During the meeting, Amirbayov informed the chairperson of the invitation extended by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to participate in the 13th session of the World Forum of Cities. It was noted that the development of relations with the member states of the African Union is one of the priorities of Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement.
In turn, his colleague expressed gratitude for Azerbaijan's humanitarian assistance to countries on the African continent, as well as for its sincere and valuable support in the areas of digital innovation, transformation of public services, healthcare, education, advanced communications, and a number of other areas. The chairman noted his readiness to work on institutionalizing relations with our country. In the course of the meeting, the intention was expressed to prepare a forward-looking framework agreement aimed at expanding strategic relations between the African Union and Azerbaijan.
During the talks, Amirbayov provided the Ethiopian side with detailed information on the work done to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the measures taken to ensure sustainable peace in the region. In this context, the strategic importance of the Zangezur Corridor, including the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” was explained in terms of strengthening the transit potential of the South Caucasus, as well as its contribution to ensuring peace and security in the region.
The President's Special Representative gave an extensive presentation on the Azerbaijan-African Union, as well as Azerbaijan-Ethiopia relations, geopolitical processes in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan's role in the “middle corridor” and the North-South transport corridor, organized by the Institute of External Relations, one of Ethiopia's leading think tanks, and noted that the participants answered their questions.
In the course of the meetings, Elchin Amirbayov informed his interlocutors in detail about the destruction of Azerbaijan's cultural heritage monuments as a result of Armenia's nearly 30-year occupation policy and the large-scale mine problem in our country, and also presented them with publications on these topics.
As part of his visit, Elchin Amirbayov also gave an interview to the influential Ethiopian media organization FANA TV.
