/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

President Ilham Aliyev has officially welcomed Afghanistan’s President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, who arrived in Baku on December 22.

A guard of honor was arranged for President Ghani in the square decorated with the national flags of the two countries. The national anthems of Afghanistan and Azerbaijan were played.

State and government officials of Azerbaijan were introduced to President Ghani, and members of the Afghan delegation were introduced to President Ilham Aliyev.

Following the official welcoming ceremony, the Azerbaijani and Afghan presidents held a one-on-one meeting.

The sides hailed successful development of bilateral relations in the field of politics. The presidents noted that there was good potential for the development of economic ties.

They stressed the importance of this visit in terms of the strengthening of the relations. The sides further exchanged views over the bilateral and international issues.

Later, President Aliyev and his Afghan counterpart met in an expanded format.

The presidents made speeches at the meeting.

The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan were established on November 16, 1994. Azerbaijani ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is concurrently accredited to Afghanistan. The embassy of Afghanistan to Azerbaijan was opened in November, 2012.