“Azerbaijan is a strategically important country in the region," said Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells as she responded to Azerbaijani student Ilkin Aliyev's question about the purpose and results of her recent visit to Azerbaijan at a meeting with masters and doctoral students at the Australian National University.

The Azerbaijani student also asked about the prospects for cooperation between the two countries in the field of agriculture and tourism.

The Australian minister hailed great potential for developing cooperation between the two countries. "I believe that Australia and Azerbaijan can enhance cooperation in the mining industry, service sector, education, agriculture and other areas. We are ready to continue and develop cooperation with Azerbaijan."

Praising Azerbaijan's rich culture, Minister Fierravanti-Wells described Azerbaijan as a country of big strategic importance in the region.

"As Azerbaijan and Australia are geographically far from each other, bilateral relations in business and tourism fields have been weakly developed. The purpose of the visit to Azerbaijan was to ensure constant development of these relations and to launch new projects," the minister said.

Saying a group of the Australian businessmen will soon pay a visit to Azerbaijan, Fierravanti-Wells hailed the development of Australia-Azerbaijan interparliamentary relations as excellent.

The Australian minister expressed her hope that cooperation between the two countries will further develop in all areas.

Vugar Aghayev

Special Correspondent