The statement of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and the President of Romania at the joint press conference held in Baku on October 29, 2002.

Mr. President,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Distinguished members of the press,

The official visit of distinguished Mr. Ion Iliescu, President of Romania to Azerbaijan is a significant event in the history of our country. It shows the consecutive development of relations between our countries. I am pleased of our meetings and discussions that we held and would like to thank Mr. Iliescu for accepting my invitation and paying an official visit to our country.

I would dare to say that there aroused has emerged the relations of friendship between President Iliescu and me. We have met several times in different circumstances approximately since 1994 till now. The most important thing is that it is the second visit of Mr. Iliescu to Azerbaijan. During this visit we held all-round discussions. At our face-to-face meeting we touched upon many questions and showed that we have the same opinions about different issues. We had an exchange of views about the Romanian-Azerbaijani relations and their future development, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict which is the most painful problem of Azerbaijan and its solution as soon as possible, restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, assurance of its sovereignty, international terrorism, its dangers, conduction of struggle both by Romania and Azerbaijan against terrorism, the current situation in the Caucasus and region, many international issues and of course the main issue - the Romanian-Azerbaijani relations and their development.

I think that there emerged many valuable ideas especially about the development of the Azerbaijani-Romanian economic relations at the meeting with delegations. President Iliescu and I, value the actions of the Romanian-Azerbaijani joint economic committee that we have established. We have decided that the actions of the committee must speed up so that we can obtain more achievements in our relations. We have discussed many other issues as well. And finally, the agreements signed here today strengthen and expand the normative and legal basis of relations between Romania and Azerbaijan.

I suppose that the statement which has been signed by President Iliescu and me has a special significance. This statement has been devoted to political issues and shows that Azerbaijan and Romania agree in many issues and have the same views about the international and regional problems.

We have signed an agreement on the relations of friendship and cooperation between Romania and Azerbaijan in March 1996, when President Iliescu first visited Azerbaijan. The statement which we are signing today gives us an opportunity to strengthen it more and to carry on the issues in the future on the base of that agreement as well.

I would like to thank President Iliescu once more. I would also like to mention a fact that President Iliescu has brought a large group of businessmen within his visit to Azerbaijan. Our Ministry of Economic Development is holding necessary meetings and discussions with them, and I believe that only by this way we can achieve the development of economic relations.

Mr. President,

Thank you,

The floor is yours.

Translated from ''Azerbaijan'' newspaper,Oktober 30, 2002