AZERI LEADER CONGRATULATES OBAMA ON ELECTION VICTORY

AzTV Baku
Nov 5 2008
Azerbaijan

[Presenter] Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of
congratulation to US President-elect Barack Obama.

The letter states: Dear Mr Barack Obama, I cordially congratulate
you on your election to the post of US president. Your victory in the
election is clear proof of the friendly American people’s confidence in
you and your political course personally. We attach great importance
to relations between the USA and Azerbaijan. Our relations have gone
through an evolutionary process and have reached their current level
of strategic partnership.

At present, our countries’ close involvement in many spheres,
particularly in issues of energy security, and the United States’
comprehensive support for transnational projects are the key factors
of our success. We welcome the efforts of the USA as a co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group to mediate a fair solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh
problem and pin great hopes that the conflict will soon be resolved
on the basis of international legal norms and principles and that an
end will be put to Armenian occupation and the occupied lands will
be liberated. I am confident that the friendly relations between our
countries will further develop successfully.

Once again I want to congratulate you and wish you strong health,
happiness and success for the good of the American people.

[Signed] With best regards,

Ilham Aliyev, the president of the Azerbaijani Republic