Mr Ilham said his country attaches great importance to developing ties of friendship between the two countries and expressed the hope that Mr Hai’s visit would be a great success.

 “We boast a lot of potential for development so it is essential to create joint investment projects and propose measures to increase the turnover of two-way trade.” Mr Ilham stated.

For his part, Mr Hai thanked the Azerbaijan President for his kind sentiments towards the Vietnamese people and spoke highly of his country’s assistance in training Vietnamese personnel in the oil and gas industry.

The two leaders said that Vietnam and Azerbaijan should make more efforts to raise economic and trade relations to a higher lever in tandem with their political relationship.

At an earlier meeting with the President of Azerbaijan’s National Oil Company known as SOCAR, Mr Hai praised the company’s operations and underlined the need to expand bilateral investment cooperation in oil and gas exploration.

Deputy PM Hai witnessed the signing of several documents, including a framework agreement on cooperation between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and SOCAR, and a contract to buy oil between the Vietnam Oil Corporation PVOil and SOCAR Trading Singapore.

At the Vietnam-Azerbaijan business forum, Mr Hai said Azerbaijani businesses are welcome in Vietnam and the country always regards the success of Azerbaijani businesses as its success.

The forum was an excellent opportunity for nearly 50 businesses from both countries to work out specific measures for future cooperation.

The same day, Mr Hai laid a floral tribute at the grave of the former Azerbaijani President and visited several economic and cultural establishments in Baku.