On 14 February, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov had a meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Vladimir Norov noted that Azerbaijan was among the most active SCO dialogue partners in the field of security, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation. He added that the SCO member states value their ties with the dialogue partners and are ready to strengthen cooperation with them in accordance with the Action Plan for the implementation of the SCO Development Strategy until 2025, which provides for an active involvement of dialogue partners in various SCO activities, including ministerial and expert meetings, as well as the establishment of a mechanism for regular consultations with them.
In this connection, the SCO Secretary-General mentioned the wide window of opportunity created by the roadmap on the development of the SCO Secretariat's cooperation with observer states and dialogue partners adopted in May 2019.
President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that one of Azerbaijan's priorities was to boost cooperation with the SCO member states, including through bilateral and trilateral infrastructure and energy projects. He also expressed his appreciation for the SCO Secretariat's diplomatic efforts to promote ties with observer states and dialogue partners, highlighting the great practical significance of these efforts with regard to unleashing the potential of inclusive multilateral cooperation in Eurasia.
The parties praised the Azerbaijani idea of holding an international conference on the SCO member states' main transport routes and the North-South and East-West corridors as a keystone for connectivity and joint trade and economic development on 21-22 April 2020.
The meeting was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere.