Azerbaijani President: In the coming years we intend to further strengthen the political and economic potential of our country

Baku, May 19 (AzerTAc). “In the coming years we intend to further strengthen the political and economic potential of our country, enhance our international reputation and expand our cooperation with international organizations and countries,” President Ilham Aliyev told the Business Year magazine. “Our foreign policy is underpinned by the protection of national interests, and all the necessary steps will continue to be taken in this direction.” “I regret to say that there is no progress in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is our top foreign political priority.” The President said: “The Armenian side continues to use different pretexts to delay the process of negotiations and tries to maintain the status-quo. There was some revitalization in the talks at the end of last year, which gives us grounds to expect some progress in the settlement of the issue in 2014. The Armenian leadership has got to understand that Azerbaijan will never tolerate the establishment of a second Armenian state on its soil.” “The conflict should and will be resolved on the basis of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. As long as the conflict remains unresolved, the Armenian state will remain sidelined from all transnational and regional projects, the plight of the Armenian people will continue to deteriorate and the already frugal potential of the country will be completely exhausted,” the head of state noted.