President Ilham Aliyev attends meeting of CIS Heads of State Council in Bishkek [PHOTOS]

A meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has been held in Bishkek.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the meeting.

President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov welcomed President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and other heads of state.

The heads of state posed together for photographs.

First, a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in a limited format was held.

President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov said:

- The floor is being given to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Heydarovich Aliyev. Please, Ilham Heydarovich, you have the floor.

Addressing the meeting, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Dear Sadyr Nurgojoyevich, distinguished heads of state. First of all, I would like to thank the President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Nurgojoyevich Zhaparov, for the hospitality and for the excellent organization of the event.

I am pleased that the friendly and brotherly relations between Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan are developing successfully. The agreements reached during reciprocal visits of the heads of state are being implemented. Azerbaijan has started implementing investment projects in Kyrgyzstan. The Azerbaijan-Kyrgyzstan Investment Fund has been established to deepen our cooperation. Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate the leadership of Kyrgyzstan on the successes achieved in the way of the socio-economic development of the country.

I would like to wish dear Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin success in the Russian Federation's chairmanship of the CIS next year.

The awarding of the CIS Badge of Honor to the President of Uzbekistan, respected Shavkat Mirziyoyev, is a significant event of this meeting. I congratulate Shavkat Mironovich on this well-deserved award. Another important event related to brotherly Uzbekistan is the decision to declare the city of Samarkand the “Cultural Capital of the Commonwealth” in 2024.

The humanitarian sphere is one of the main spheres in our Commonwealth. Azerbaijan is making a great contribution to the development of our relations in this sphere. I would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues for supporting Azerbaijan's candidacy to host the third CIS Games in 2025.

I am sure that the third CIS Games, in addition to strengthening our cooperation in sports, will also be a demonstration of our successful cooperation within the Commonwealth.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the President of Belarus, Mr. Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko, on the successful hosting of the second CIS Games.

Dear colleagues, the strengthening of our economic ties is producing positive results. Last year, the volume of trade between Azerbaijan and the CIS countries grew by almost 30 percent. This year's growth will constitute more than 20 percent.

Azerbaijan is a reliable partner for many CIS countries in the field of transit and transportation. Many CIS countries are actively using Azerbaijan's transit opportunities in the East-West and North-South transport corridors. The ongoing and future projects to expand the capacity of these two transport corridors will serve to strengthen the transport security of our countries and increase our trade.

I would like to express my gratitude to the President of Kyrgyzstan again for the excellent organization of the event. I am confident that the results of the Summit will serve to further strengthen our cooperation.

Thank you for your attention.

President Sadyr Zhaparov: Thank you, Ilham Heydarovich.

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Then, the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State continued in an expanded format.

President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov noted that the discussions held at the meeting would contribute to the development of cooperation among the CIS member countries. Sadyr Zhaparov announced that the chairmanship of the CIS passed from Kyrgyzstan to Russia.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin highlighted his country`s priority goals during the CIS presidency. Vladimir Putin pointed out that the next meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State would be held in Moscow next October.

Addressing the meeting, CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev informed about the documents to be signed.

The meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State ended with the signing of documents.