Azerbaijan and China have ties that go back a long time, almost 2,000 years, when the two nations enjoyed trade and cultural relations via the Silk Road. In the Mediaeval Ages, popular Azerbaijani poets gave expression to our friendship in their poems that venerated the Chinese people and China's culture. Thanks to that solid foundation, friendship and cooperation between the two nations is even richer and more diverse today.

The Republic of Azerbaijan attaches special importance to bilateral ties with the People's Republic of China and is interested in deepening and broadening these relations in all spheres. At present, the ties are characterized as a multidimensional partnership based on friendship and mutual trust, with high growth dynamics. The high-level political dialogue that began during then Republic of Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev's official visit to China in March 1994, has been successfully taken forward by incumbent President Ilham Aliyev.

Azerbaijan upholds the One-China principle. China, in turn, supports Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of its borders, and settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions. Such active dialogue in the political, economic and humanitarian spheres creates fertile ground for implementation of large-scale projects in the energy, economic, trade, communication, transport-logistics, tourism and humanitarian spheres.

In December 2015, President Aliyev's state visit to China saw the signing of 10 intergovernmental documents, among them the Joint Declaration on Friendship and Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the People's Republic of China and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Joint Promotion of the Silk Road Economic Belt. And it was the beginning of a new stage in development of relations between the two countries.

On Chinese President Xi Jinping's invitation, President Aliyev took part in the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in April. The visit saw high level meetings between the two presidents and other high level officials.

The Belt and Road Initiative has been a very important and beneficial mechanism for participating countries ever since it was first proposed by President Xi in 2013. Azerbaijan is no exception, considering that trade turnover between Azerbaijan and China has doubled since 2013. Furthermore, the trade turnover with Azerbaijan formed 43 percent of China's total trade turnover with South Caucasus countries in 2018, making Azerbaijan China's main regional trade partner last year.

As one of the first countries to support the Initiative, Azerbaijan is making a significant contribution to its implementation with large transport and infrastructure projects. Thus, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and Baku International Sea Trade Port, initiated by Azerbaijan, form the Trans-Caspian East-West Transport Corridor, thereby providing a short and convenient alternative route for shipments from China to Europe.

The increasing and multi-faceted cooperation between the two nations is helping take Azerbaijan-China bilateral ties to a new level, that of a strategic partnership.

Today, Azerbaijan produces high quality products and is interested in increasing its exports to China. High-quality goods produced in Azerbaijan and bearing the "Made in Azerbaijan" stamp are likely to be appreciated in the Chinese market. Since September 2018, Azerbaijani trade and wine houses appeared in cities such as Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Luzhou in Sichuan province and Shanghai and the trend will continue. At the same time, Chinese investors intend to benefit from the investment climate and opportunities in Azerbaijan.

The economic and political dimension apart, no opportunity is spared to bring the people closer. People from Azerbaijan try and participate in different cultural festivals and fairs held in China. Also, there is active cooperation between the different regions of the two countries.

Culture and tourism are under the Azerbaijani government's special focus, thus holding great potential for cooperation between the two countries. The Memorandum of Understanding on the Facilitation of Group Travel of Chinese Tourists to the Republic of Azerbaijan signed on March 1, 2019, creates huge opportunities for expanding and deepening ties between the two countries.

There is no doubt that ties in the fields of education, health and culture within the Initiative's framework will give an additional impetus to strengthen people-to-people contact between Azerbaijan and China. Bilateral ties will continue to expand to new areas of cooperation and encourage more friendly exchanges.

In the past few years, China has risen to become the world's second-largest economy and continues its efforts to be considered a global power. The Communist Party of China's leadership is focusing on people and their well-being and happiness to make gains in all areas. It aims to deepen reforms for the sake of the Chinese people.

I take this opportunity to congratulate the friendly Chinese people on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and to express my best wishes for peace and progress in the country and for the prosperity and well-being of the friendly Chinese people.

The author is Azerbaijan's ambassador to China.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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