At a joint press conference with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President Viktor Yanukovych stressed that today’s second meeting of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and Azerbaijan had been preceded by great work, in particular on preparation of the meeting’s Minutes.

"The aim was one – to fill it with concrete content," the President said, presidential press office reported.

"The tradition, established many years ago in our bilateral relations, continues. President Aliyev and I have known each other for a long time now. We agreed that we would greatly intensify the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations and fill them with content.

We have expanded the list of areas, we could cooperate beneficially in, and which meet our national interests. These are trade and economic cooperation, collaboration in international organizations. The range of our humanitarian ties, which have existed between the peoples of Ukraine and Azerbaijan for centuries, is very broad.

In our trade and economic relations I would single out development of our relations in the energy sector. We have agreed to establish a joint working group to elaborate a strategic agreement between our countries. In particular, it will provide for significant increase in supplies of energy resources from Azerbaijan to Ukraine.

We will elaborate arrangements as soon as this program starts working. I do not rule out that this cooperation will extend to third countries. Such, as Russia and countries of the Caspian basin.

Today, the issue of diversification of energy resources is on the agenda. We believe that Azerbaijan has great prospects of increasing oil and gas extraction. We wish our friends that they expanded that prospect as soon as possible.

Cooperation in the field of high technologies is another area on the agenda of our relations. We believe that its development is also very promising.

We can confidently say that in 2010 the turnover between our countries will grow not a few percent, but a few times. And this is the result of bilateral work. Our task is not to stop here, but to continue this mutually beneficial activity.

Among the trade partners of Azerbaijan, Ukraine now ranks second. We certainly want to improve this result.

So I am delighted to say that we believe in the future and will work for it, making every effort for that," the President of Ukraine said.

From his part, the President of Azerbaijan expressed confidence that the current level of relations between our countries, and most importantly – the prospects of their development, will largely depend on how closely their leaders communicate. "I see that the prospects for expansion of full cooperation are very promising," Ilham Aliyev said.

He praised the constructive process of negotiations today and detailed consideration of a wide range of questions in bilateral cooperation. "We have reaffirmed our sincere desire to expand political cooperation and consultations, provide each other with mutual support in international organizations, cooperate actively in regional affairs, especially in the matters of integration in the Caspian-Black Sea basin," the President of Azerbaijan said.

Ilham Aliyev stressed that our countries are leading the work of strengthening and expansion of transport and energy corridors that connect the Black and Caspian seas. Thus, Ukraine and Azerbaijan are actively involved in the processes of regional integration and cooperation.

According to the President of Azerbaijan, the sides have discussed issues related to fuel and energy complex in detail, too. "I am extremely pleased that we already see concrete results here and hope to expand cooperation in this area," he said.

He expressed confidence that broader regional cooperation in energy sector, diversification of transit routes of oil and gas, strengthening of energy security of producers and consumers would depend on effectiveness of cooperation between Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

"We are also very pleased with the increasing turnover between our countries," the President of Azerbaijan said.

"We must maximize the potential of our economies and our companies to cooperate more actively and to fill our activities with specific content. There are all the preconditions for that," Ilham Aliyev said.

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