Chinese FM holds talks with Azerbaijani counterpart

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that in recent years, China-Azerbaijan relations have entered the fast track, achieved leapfrog development and reached their best period in history, opening up broad prospects for the future. The sound development of bilateral relations has benefited from the high level of mutual trust between leaders of the two countries and the strategic guarantee they provide, enabling the two sides to firmly support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests, continuously consolidate the political foundation of bilateral relations and create important conditions for strengthening cooperation, Wang said. As a long-term strategic partner, China will continue to support Azerbaijan in accelerating its development and revitalization, he added. China appreciates Azerbaijan's work during its chairmanship of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and supports Azerbaijan in playing a greater role within the CICA and in international affairs, Wang said. Noting that next year will mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Azerbaijan, Wang said that China stands ready to work with Azerbaijan to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, and take the anniversary as an opportunity to jointly accelerate their respective modernization drives and benefit the two peoples. For his part, Bayramov said Azerbaijan and China are sincere friends and reliable partners, with a long-standing friendship, increasingly close exchanges at all levels and bilateral relations reaching an unprecedented level. Azerbaijan firmly adheres to the one-China principle and stands ready to work with China, under the guidance of the two heads of state, to advance their comprehensive strategic partnership, strengthen cooperation in areas such as energy, transport, climate change, artificial intelligence, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and step up efforts in the Belt and Road cooperation and support to the Middle Corridor, Bayramov said. The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on advancing bilateral practical cooperation in the next phase and on international and regional issues of common concern.