AZERBAIJAN, February 7 - President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Dang Minh Khoi.

Ambassador Dang Minh Khoi presented his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.

Then, the head of state had a conversation with the ambassador.

President Ilham Aliyev kindly recalled with pleasure his visit to Vietnam and the meetings held there, saying that this visit made an important contribution to the development of bilateral relations. The head of state noted that there was good cooperation between Azerbaijan and Vietnam on a bilateral level and on a multilateral basis within international organizations.

President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan highly appreciated the fact that Vietnam, as a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, stood with the country along with other members of the Non-Aligned Movement to prevent adoption of anti-Azerbaijan statements within international organizations, in particular, the UN Security Council during the Patriotic War in 2020.

The head of state also touched on the importance of reforming the UN Security Council, and in this regard, he stressed the need for providing a permanent seat at the UN Security Council to a country chairing the Non-Aligned Movement on a rotating basis. Emphasizing that Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement will end in 2023, the head of state said that the main goal was to establish a working mechanism that would apply to the members who would take over the chairmanship after Azerbaijan. The President noted that such an approach will only reflect international justice. The head of the state also said that the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group would be held in Azerbaijan next month.

Emphasizing the very good relations between Azerbaijan and Vietnam in the field of education, President Ilham Aliyev said that a large number of Vietnamese students studied in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. The head of state recalled his Vietnam visit, which included the meeting with the Vietnamese alumni of Azerbaijan's higher education institutions whom the Azerbaijani leader invited to the country for a visit. He noted with pleasure that the visit had taken place.

President Ilham Aliyev also touched on the possibility of Vietnamese companies’ involvement in reconstruction projects in the Azerbaijani territories liberated from occupation, and invited those companies to participate in these works.

Dang Minh Khoi expressed his satisfaction with his appointment as an ambassador to Azerbaijan and conveyed the greetings of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong to the head of state.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed his gratitude for the greetings, and asked the ambassador to pass on his own greetings to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The ambassador underlined that President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Vietnam made an important contribution to the development of bilateral relations. He recalled with pleasure the contribution of National Leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev to development of the Vietnam-Azerbaijan relations during his USSR leadership years, and noted that the Great Leader's visit to Vietnam had played a key role in development of the relations.

The head of state also recalled national leader Heydar Aliyev’s visit to Vietnam during the time when he was in the leadership of the Soviet Union, and said that the national leader had always contributed and supported the expansion of bilateral relations between the two countries. President Ilham Aliyev noted that he always had great respect for the heroism and fortitude of the Vietnamese people.

The diplomat underlined that the people of Vietnam hailed Azerbaijan's providing conditions for a large number of Vietnamese students to study in the country, and that the Azerbaijan-educated Vietnamese specialists are successfully working in various fields in Vietnam today. He said that Vietnamese students are currently studying in Azerbaijan under the educational scholarship programs allocated by Azerbaijan within the Non-Aligned Movement.

Ambassador Dang Min Khoi underlined that Vietnam supports Azerbaijan's activities as the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, and will inform his country about Azerbaijan's initiative regarding representation of the chairing state of the Non-Aligned Movement in the UN Security Council as part of reforms in this organization.

The importance of increasing efforts towards further expansion of economic and trade relations between the two countries was emphasized during the conversation.