Frank Mermoud said he was very glad to meet again with the President of Azerbaijan, noting the goal of his visit was to promote expansion of agricultural relations between the two countries.

He informed the President he had had a number of successful meetings here, and that members of his delegation representing various American companies had visited several provinces of Azerbaijan to enhance the possibilities for agricultural cooperation.

Mermoud noted he had personally visited a number of local enterprises engaged in producing agricultural products, and was highly impressed by what he had seen in there.

President Aliyev said the government of Azerbaijan attaches great significance to development of agriculture, and welcomed the efforts towards expansion of the country's cooperation with U.S. in this area.

He pointed out that development of agriculture is not only of economic but also of social significance to Azerbaijan as almost half of the country's population lives in rural area.

The Azerbaijani leader noted that Azerbaijan and U.S. have a good experience of cooperating with each other in a variety of fields, which could also be successfully used in agriculture. AzerTAg