BAKU: Azeri president congratulates Bush on re-election

Azeri president congratulates Bush on re-election

Azartac news agency, Baku,
4 Nov 04

To the president of the United States of America, His Excellency
George W. Bush

Dear Mr President!

I congratulate you on your re-election as president of the United
States of America and wish you success.

I want to express my conviction that you will continue your activities
to ensure peace and stability in the world.

We are a friend of the United States of America and attach special
importance to the development of our cooperation. Azerbaijan, which is
establishing democratic, law-governed and secular society, is
determined to raise its bilateral relations with the United States of
America to a higher level.

I express my gratitude to you for supporting the joint exploitation of
rich energy resources in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea,
their export to the world market, the construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas
pipeline.

As a reliable strategic partner of the United States of America,
Azerbaijan will continue to make its contribution to the ensuring of
peace and security in the region and to the fight against terrorism. I
want to stress again that Azerbaijan’s position on this issue is
unchangeable.

As has been the case from the very beginning, Azerbaijan is in the
same coalition as the United States of America in the fight against
terrorism and its various manifestations.

At the same time, we pin great hopes on the efforts of the United
States of America as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and your
efforts personally for a fair solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict within the framework of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity and norms and principles of international law.

I believe that friendship and comprehensive strategic cooperation
between our countries will expand and strengthen even more in line
with the mutual interests of our peoples.

Dear Mr President!

I wish you strong health, success in your work and constant progress
and prosperity to the people of the United States of America.

Truly yours,

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev,

Baku, 4 November 2004