(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 30. An official
dinner has been hosted on behalf of Prime Minister of Hungary
Viktor Orban and his wife Aniko Levai in honor of President of the
Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva
in Budapest, trend reports.
The Prime Minister of Hungary and the President of Azerbaijan
made speeches at the dinner.
Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orban
- Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
A very warm welcome to all of you.
I will speak in my native language and my words will be
translated into your language. Countries of the same size like to
use their mother tongue, even if they conduct official negotiations
in English. Hungary made a very important decision in 2010. We
looked around the world to determine where we could find strategic
partners. We were looking for a strong friendship, not just
financial interests. Because NATO, the European Union – these are
wonderful things. But they have already lost their beauty. We said
in 2010 that we could not rely on ourselves alone. We made this
decision to go towards Azerbaijan. My friendship with President
Aliyev and the First Lady coincides with that time, and I sincerely
want to greet the First Lady too.
According to Hungarian historians, during our long journey from
the eastern side of the European mountains, we spent some time in
the territory of contemporary Azerbaijan. That is why we are
grateful to President Aliyev for supporting Hungary's accession to
the Organization of Turkic States as an observer member. Because
there is a cultural proximity between our two countries. It is not
so obvious because we became Christians at a certain time, but
Azerbaijan was able to preserve its Muslim identity. Making friends
is not so easy. It is especially difficult for Hungarians. When you
make a friend, you have to forgive them for all their mistakes. We
Hungarians have also made a few mistakes. So we need to find
friends who are willing to forgive us for the mistakes we made. It
is easy to make friends who are always perfect. I also said this to
President Aliyev. As for Hungary, you are gaining an imperfect
friend in Hungary, Mr. Aliyev. It was interesting. There is
something more important than that. Countries on the same page
understand how similar from the point of view of strategic and
geo-strategic location. You don't need to be a scholar to
understand this. Azerbaijan borders on Iran in the south and on
Russia in the north. Hungary borders on Germany to the west and on
Russia to the east. We are past that. We are aware of the
situation. We know how difficult it is to manage people in such a
complicated situation. This has helped us a lot in strengthening
our friendship. We understand each other in foreign policy. I have
learned so much from President Aliyev in the last ten years in how
to lead the country so well in a very complex environment.
Unfortunately, I couldn't learn everything he knows. Because we are
on the radical side, whereas he is a politician known for his more
moderate views. I need to learn from him how to become more
successful in the international arena in a moderate way.
Mr. President, we are forever grateful to you for the past 10
years. We are not your friends because of your energy – you have
many energy friends now. We share a culture and a similar
background with you. We highly appreciate the opportunities you are
offering to us. You have allowed the Hungarians the opportunity to
invest in Azerbaijan's oil industry. This is one of our biggest
investments abroad, if not the biggest. We have opportunities ahead
of us. If we behave well, we will have opportunities in the
future.
Mr. President, thank you for your visit. First Lady, we are
especially grateful to you for accompanying your husband. We are
welcoming the President and the First Lady, which is not quite
common in politics these days. I can say from the example of
President Aliyev that if you want to lead the country, you must
have a whole family. Because how can you lead the country if
everything is not in order in your own family? Therefore, we are
welcoming not only the President and the First Lady today, we are
welcoming members of an extended family. Long live Azerbaijan!
Speech by President Ilham Aliyev
- Dear Prime Minister.
Dear First Lady.
Dear friends.
Mehriban and I feel at home in your beautiful country. The
hospitality extended to us makes us very happy.
My dear friend Prime Minister has said very nice things about us
in his speech, for which I want to express my gratitude to him.
Indeed, Hungary and Azerbaijan are both strategic partners and
close friends. There are many bonds that connect us now. But I
think that the fundamental factor among them is our common outlook
of the world. This binds us even closer together and strengthens
our friendship. Loyalty to national traditions and appreciation of
family values are our life principles.
Our views on bilateral relations are the same, and we evaluate
the processes taking place in the world from the same perspective.
We have had close relations with Prime Minister for more than 10
years now, and I can say that we are friends. Also, my dear friend
Viktor has been to Azerbaijan many times. I have already visited
Hungary several times, and we meet at least several times every
year at international events. We want to take every opportunity to
talk and, at the same time, discuss and solve the issues that are
important for our countries.
As my dear friend has noted, we are not energy friends, we are
true friends. Over the past year, I can say that Azerbaijan has
received orders and requests from more than 10 countries regarding
the supply of energy resources. I can say that all these proposals
are being discussed now. They are being routinely discussed subject
to certain bureaucratic procedures, and then, of course, decisions
will be made. But I can say that the document on natural gas
cooperation between Hungary and Azerbaijan signed today was
prepared in a matter of three days, and it was signed today. So
three days, and these were weekend days. But it was enough for us
to take a very important strategic step and put our signature on it
today. This once again shows how sincere our relations are, and
this is the greatest asset of our relations – mutual trust, mutual
respect and our joint action on the basis of mutual interests.
In our statements for the media today, we covered many important
issues, so I do not want to repeat them. However, I would like to
add one thing here that we really feel at home here. We feel among
friends.
Of course, the friendly Hungarian people have given Viktor the
highest value by and repeatedly shown their wisdom by trusting him.
At the same time, they duly appreciated his selfless activity. I
wish my dear friend good luck and future victories. We can be
considered veterans at the political level. Not because of our age.
Viktor was elected leader earlier than me, at the age of 35. I was
elected a little later – at the age of 41. Our strength is still
there, and I am sure that our personal friendship and cooperation
as leaders of the country will be continued for many years to
come.