We are very glad that the Cold War is over and that the United States and Azerbaijan are so close to each other. Now one of our main tasks is to bring our countries further closer. We are astonished at how many economic and political changes have recently taken place in Azerbaijan, and we believe that they will intensify more and more. All this happened thanks to the leadership of President Heydar Aliyev.

Countries located north of Azerbaijan are facing major economic problems. That is why I am particularly impressed at the economic stability being achieved in your country, and this has yielded very fruitful results. This is an important factor both for Azerbaijan and for the world economy.

Democracy can only be based on economic reality. In Azerbaijan, considerable success has been achieved in the field of democracy. There have been very few presidents in the world after meeting with whom I could conclude that I had learned something. Heydar Aliyev is one of those few presidents.