Historical background to the document "From the talk of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev at the tete-a-tete meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who arrived in Baku on a short visit (Zugulba, the residence of the President, August 29, 1997)"

The Azerbaijan-Israel relations are dynamically developing. In previous years Heydar Aliyev met the Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Ehud Barak and discussed with them issues of mutual interest.

The first meeting between Heydar Aliyev and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu took place on December 2, 1996 in the framework of the OSCE Summit in Lisbon. On August 29, 1997, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a brief visit to Azerbaijan and met Heydar Aliyev. The President of Azerbaijan expressed his satisfaction with the meeting and negotiations with Mr. Netanyahu at the Lisbon Summit of OSCE , as well as with the statement of the Israeli government. Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Heydar Aliyev emphasized his support to its settlement on the Lisbon principles.

It was decided at the meeting to create a working group for the further development of the cooperation between the two countries.