Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is on state visit to Estonia - UPDATE - PHOTOS

April 8
10:00

President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves and his spouse Evelin Ilves hosted a state banquet for Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva on April 7.

President Ilham Aliyev`s state visit to Estonia is underway.

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met former Estonian president Arnold Ruutel in Tallinn on April 7.

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On April 7, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Estonian ICT Demo Center. Here, the Azerbaijani President met ICT companies' leaders.

Azerbaijani President familiarized himself with modern-standard innovation projects.

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Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev delivered a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of his visit to Estonia on April 7.

The President spoke of relations between the two countries, as well as economic reforms in Azerbaijan, the country's integration into European Union and cooperation with international organizations. He also touched upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

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Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Estonian Premier Andrus Ansip met here on April 7.

They praised the economic cooperation between the two countries and underlined there was “good” potential for expansion of the bilateral relations.

Following the meeting they had a joint dinner at the building of the Academy of Sciences. The President signed a guest book here.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Tallinn Town Hall, one of the landmarks of the Estonian capital on April 7.

The Azerbaijani leader was welcomed here by Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar who told him of history of the 14th century building.

Savisaar said Tallinn had always been a multinational city, stressing “it is currently home to representatives of 120 nations”.

“Nearly 700 Azerbaijanis live here today,” said the Tallinn Mayor, adding “they play the role of a bridge between Azerbaijan and Estonia”.

“Azerbaijanis are grouped here in the Azerbaijan Culture Center which aims to strength their unity, preserve their language and traditions and also contribute to developing the Azerbaijan-Estonia relations.”

“There is also a kindergarten after outstanding ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva in Tallinn, and it gives us pleasure.”

Accompanied by Savisaar, Azerbaijan's President toured the Tallinn Town Hall.
President Ilham Aliyev signed the Guest Book here.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the War of Independence Victory Column in the Freedom Square here on April 7.

A guard of honor was lined up for the Azerbaijani President here.

A military orchestra played the national anthems of Azerbaijan and Estonia.
President Ilham Aliyev laid a wreath at the Column.

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Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia met here in the presence of the two countries delegations on April 7.

It was noted that relations between Azerbaijan and Estonia were developing in a number of spheres, particularly political and economic.

The importance of the Azerbaijani leader's current visit was underlined during the meeting.
It was also noted that the two countries have good potential to deepen bilateral economic cooperation.

The presidents emphasized the importance of bilateral relations as part of the Azerbaijan-EU cooperation.

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Following a one-on-one meeting here, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Estonian leader Toomas Hendrik Ilves have signed a joint Declaration on April 7.

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Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia met here in private on April 7.

The two leaders praised the Azerbaijan-Estonia relations, describing them as “developing”.

They stressed that the two countries enjoy “good” potential to expand cooperation in various spheres.

The presidents underscored the importance of reciprocal visits for enhancing the bilateral ties.

The Azerbaijani and Estonian leaders also expressed confidence the bilateral relations would continue to strengthen.

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April 7
17:55

"Estonia and Azerbaijan are linked by common interests; we want stability and peace to rule in the Southern Caucasus and the region in general, to ensure both the energy security of the European Union with as versatile a means as possible and the development of political, economic, and cultural co-operation between our countries," said the President, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, as he welcomed the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev and Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, who arrived in Estonia for a state visit, the Estonian president's official web site reported.

Azerbaijan as a leading country in the Caspian Sea region is an important partner for the European Union both economically and politically; the member states of the European Union, in turn, can share their experiences with you, to ensure that the reforms introduced in Azerbaijan will be successful," said the Estonian Head of State.

According to President Ilves, as a European Union Member State, Estonia supports and encourages Azerbaijan to join the World Trade Organization as the achievement of such an objective will show Azerbaijan as a country that adheres to international norms and standards:

"This, in turn, would be beneficial for the stability and progress of the country's economic and business environment and would contribute to closer economic integration with the European Union."

When discussing the Estonian-Azerbaijan relations, President Ilves reminded that tomorrow, Apr.8, will be the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Estonian Society in Baku, which demonstrates the substantial history of our relations.

The Estonian leader emphasized the brevity of today's political dialogue between the two countries, but also added that co-operation could even be closer between the heads of government and also the ministries of economic affairs, defense and agriculture.

"We also need to focus on much closer economic co-operation; Estonia is very interested in pursuing this matter," said President Ilves. "We want Estonian investors to have a secure business environment in Azerbaijan and the co-operation to be smooth, without excessive bureaucratic restrictions, characterized by rules understandable for everyone, and transparency."

President Ilves acknowledged Azerbaijan's wish to modernize its public sector, using co-operation with Estonia to meet that purpose. For example, Estonian information technology companies are participating in partnerships with their Azerbaijani colleagues to develop e-governance in Azerbaijan and create a safe data exchange layer, which is known in Estonia as X-tee.

"Following this, it will be easy for Azerbaijan to adopt other solutions that are successfully operating in Estonia, such as e-Health, e-Police, e-School and eventually the ID card," said President Ilves.

Presidents Ilves and Ilham Aliyev also discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Estonia supports the resolution of the issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent areas through negotiations, and I know that this is also your opinion in this matter," said President Ilves to the Azerbaijani Head of State. "You need to prepare for peace, not war, which means patience during the negotiations in order to arrive at an agreement for a peaceful solution of the Mountain-Karabakh issues, which would pave the way for an extensive peace treaty."

The Estonian Head of State emphasized the important role played by Azerbaijan in increasing the energy security of the European Union as whole.

"This is why we highly appreciate Azerbaijan's participation in the Southern Corridor initiative and in projects such as the Nabucco gas stream," President Ilves said.

The Estonian and Azerbaijani heads of state also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, where both countries contribute to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"Azerbaijan, as one of the key countries of this region, understands quite clearly the importance of a stable Afghanistan for both itself and its neighbors, as this would stop the spread of extremism," said President Ilves. "This is the reason why the international community has accepted its responsibility and many countries - not just NATO - have sent their defense force members and civilian experts to Afghanistan."

Presidents Ilves and Aliyev today signed the common declaration on relations between Estonia and Azerbaijan.

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15:27

An official welcoming ceremony of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who is on a state visit to Estonia, was held at the palace in Kadriorge in Tallinn today, AzerTaj state news agency reported.

A guard of honor was lined up for the Azerbaijani President in the square decorated with the national flags of Azerbaijan and Estonia.

The President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves and his wife Evelin Ilves met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva.

A military band played the anthems of Azerbaijan and Estonia.

Head of the Honor Guard presented the report to the Azerbaijani President.

Estonia's state and governmental officials were introduced to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the members of Azerbaijani delegation - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

Later on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva inscribed in the book of honorable guests of the presidential palace in Estonia.

Presidents and spouses officially took pictures and exchanged gifts.

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09:45

A guard of honor was lined up for the Azerbaijani President at the Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport decorated with the national flags of Azerbaijan and Estonia.

President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva were welcomed by top ranking Estonian officials.


/AzerTac, Trend/

Click pictures to enlarge:



























Azerbaijani President's State visit to Estonia. The ceremony of official meeting in Tallinn.








The one-on-one meeting of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.






Azerbaijani and Estonian presidents sign a joint declaration.




The enlarged meeting






Azerbaijani and Estonian presidents speak out with the statements.










The visit to the War of Independence Victory Column on Freedom Square.









Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visits the Tallinn Town Hall.




Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited the exhibition center of information and communication technologies.






Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev meets Estonian Premier Andrus Ansip.







Azerbaijani President delivers a lecture at the Estonian Foreign Ministry.







Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met former Estonian president Arnold Ruutel.




In honor of Azerbaijani President and his spouse, and official reception was organized.


Photos: AzerTAc, President.ee