Thank you very much, dear Mr. President.
I would like to thank you and thank our delegations for this visit.
Indeed, over recent years, we have held several meetings on different international platforms. We have always supported each other. I thank Azerbaijan for its support of our sovereignty and territorial integrity. Without a doubt, Ukraine has always supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.
During this war, this is my first visit to Azerbaijan – together with our delegation – and I thank you for this visit. Today, we have signed six documents. Our teams will certainly share the details later. They cover various areas. Security is the top priority today – the defense-industrial complex. Ukraine has demonstrated resilience during this war against the aggressor and is now sharing its experience. Today, I spoke with our experts who are currently in Azerbaijan. They are certainly supporting our colleagues. Of course, we will develop our cooperation and co-production. These are very important areas that will definitely increase both the security of our countries and our peoples, as well as trade, which we truly want to expand between our countries.
Second issue. Today, I thanked the President for the fact that, during this difficult winter, our partners stood with us – the Ukrainian people were not alone. Of course, there was our air defense, our heroic military personnel, our power engineers – but also our partner relations. And the energy packages provided throughout the entire period of hardships of this difficult war: 11 energy packages through which Azerbaijan supported Ukraine. We are grateful for this and deeply appreciate it. And we are discussing the continuation of relevant initiatives.
I would like to particularly thank Mr. President for helping our children from border regions who suffered greatly because of the war. Thank you for this support. You hosted more than 500 Ukrainian children. Thank you for this humanitarian assistance.
We also discussed energy and our cooperation. This is a global challenge today – not only for Ukraine or Europe, but for the entire world, due to the war in Iran. Therefore, stable partners are needed here. I thank you for this.
Of course, we are also very pleased that Azerbaijani students often choose Ukraine. We will continue the relevant programs.
And it is very important that we have discussed peace efforts as well. It is very important for Ukraine that Russia finds the strength to end this unjust war. Of course, we highly value the role of our partners in mediating this process. We shared with the President of Azerbaijan that we are ready for trilateral negotiations. We had such talks in Türkiye. We had such talks with our American partners in Switzerland. Of course, we are ready for the negotiations in Azerbaijan in the near future, if Russia is ready for diplomacy.
Dear Mr. President, I believe that the defense-industrial complex, security, and this deep cooperation – to which, in my view, we have taken a very serious step today by signing the relevant documents – are not only about weapons. Today, this is a global matter – one of stability for nations, peace of mind for people, ensuring that their countries are strong enough to defend themselves against any challenges. This is also a very important signal. In my view, before even theoretically considering aggression, any country must know that the countries it seeks to spark hostilities against are ready for any challenge. We wish the people of Azerbaijan strength and peace, and this is very important for us. We understand that not everything is simple. We understand that we are currently in the midst of the hottest, largest war in the past 80 years. Even now – I will be honest with you, Mr. President – I have just received a report from my colleagues that Russia is striking us with various aerial weapons. Of course, they caused destruction, and, of course, they are targeting civilian sites, infrastructure, energy facilities, and railways. Taking this moment – I know there are already, unfortunately, victims and a large number of wounded people – I extend my condolences to all our Ukrainian families.
Thank you, dear Mr. President. Thank you for this visit, for our conversation, and most importantly, for our agreements.
