On 12 April 2018, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov.
During the conversation, they discussed further cooperation between the SCO and Azerbaijan as a SCO dialogue partner. They also had a detailed exchange of opinions on topical issues of international cooperation.
The SCO Secretary-General thanked President Aliyev for inviting the SCO to take part as observers overlooking the presidential election in the Republic of Azerbaijan and congratulated the head of state on successfully holding the election.
"We accomplished a lot during our observation mission; the members of the SCO Mission noted the transparency, fairness and democratic nature of the election. We should acknowledge the effort to organise the election and the high level of preparation by the election commission members and all those involved in this large-scale work," Mr Alimov emphasised.
The President of Azerbaijan thanked Mr Alimov for the SCO's participation in the observation effort and reiterated Azerbaijan's intention to promote and expand cooperation with the organisation.
"We very much appreciate our interaction with the SCO and intend to further strengthen our cooperation," Ilham Aliyev stressed, adding that Azerbaijan is geographically part of the SCO area and is bound by close partner relations with all SCO member states.
Rashid Alimov noted Azerbaijan's active participation in the events initiated by the SCO headquarters and thanked the president for his personal attention to SCO activities.