Ilham Aliyev: "No plans to place bases of foreign states in Azerbaijan"

"They are nothing more than myths," he has said in a statement during his interview with the group of Japanese journalists on the eve of his forthcoming official visit to Japan from 7 to 10 March.

"We have no plans to set up bases of any foreign states in the country," the Kyodo Susin news agency is citing the Azerbaijan leader's utterance.

Touching upon the situation around the Iran's nuclear program, Aliyev noted it causes concern in Azerbaijan, which borders with this country. He stressed the need of settling the issue "by way of negotiations based on the international law". "Economic sanctions will only lead to enhancement of tension," President thinks.

As Trend reports, Azerbaijani lider voiced his view on availability of technical resources for increasing the throughput capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline which is currently about 1 million barrels a day. According to Ilham Aliyev, it may be achieved till 1,8 million barrels with relatively small additional investments in case growth in oil production will make it necessary, ITAR-TASS reports.