President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received Speaker of the Parliament of Slovakia Boris Kollár.

The head of state thanked for Boris Kollár-led delegation’s participation in a special session of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan to mark the 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, and described this as a good sign of relations between the two countries.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed satisfaction with the conduct of active Azerbaijan-Slovakia dialogue, saying Boris Kollár’s visit provides a good opportunity for discussing prospects for cooperation in a variety of areas including development of interparliamentary ties.

The head of state touched upon relations in the energy sector, highlighted the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding between SOCAR and distribution system operators of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia signed in April this year in Sofia, adding the cooperation between the two countries as part of the “Solidarity Ring” STRING project entered a new stage.

President Ilham Aliyev underlined there is enormous potential for expanding cooperation in the fields of trade, mutual investments, transport.

Expressing gratitude for the hospitality, Speaker of Slovak Parliament Boris Kollár said that they were honored to attend the event marking the 100th anniversary of the Great Leader.

Saying that the Great Leader is a charismatic personality with great wisdom and strong will, who laid the foundation of Azerbaijani statehood, the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament underlined that thanks to his foresight Azerbaijan is steadily developing.

Emphasizing that Azerbaijan is a very modern and beautiful country, Boris Kollár said that this is his second visit to the country, and recalled with pleasure his visit to Shusha last year.

Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Boris Kollár said Slovakia fully and resolutely supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, noted the restoration and construction works carried in Azerbaijan’s territories liberated from occupation, and pointed out that Slovak companies are also keen on operating there and participating in various projects.

Hailing the fruitful demining cooperation between Azerbaijan and Slovakian companies, Boris Kollár emphasized the effective use of demining equipment produced in Slovakia for humanitarian mine clearance in the area.

During the conversation, they discussed the prospects for future cooperation in the field of energy, and noted that there are great prospects for the delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Slovakia within the framework of the "Solidarity Ring" initiative, which was recently launched in Bulgaria.

Slovakia’s support to Azerbaijan's cooperation with the European Union and NATO was highly appreciated at the meeting.