President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received a group of participants of "Building bridges" international conference, including former president of the European Commission Jacques Santer, former French secretary of state for transport Thierry Mariani, former Turkish prime minister Mesut Yilmaz, former Dutch defence minister Willem van Eekelen, Slovenia`s former minister of foreign affairs, member of European Parliament Ivo Vajgl, former economic development minister of Slovenia Mitja Gaspari, former minister of transportation and infrastructure of Germany Kurt Bodewig, prince of Denmark Christian zu Schaumburg-Lippe and chairman of the Board of Institute for European Affair Jurgen Gramke.
President Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of the conference. He said building bridges was among key priorities in Azerbaijan`s foreign policy in the region and in the world as a whole. The Head of State noted mutual understanding had to be based only on mutual trust and mutual respect.
President Ilham Aliyev also spoke of successful reforms held in Azerbaijan, and praised the country`s cooperation with European organizations.
The Head of State said Azerbaijan had made contributions to cooperation with Euro-Atlantic organizations, adding last year the country became a member of the UN Security Council.
The President also touched upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stressing official Yerevan does not honor resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Chairman of the Board of Institute for European Affairs Jurgen Gramke emphasized the importance of "Building bridges" international conference organized by the Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan and Institute for European Affairs.

AzerTAc