‘Turkey, Azerbaijan need to increase collaboration’

Ankara and Baku need to increase solidarity and collaboration in the region, Turkish Parliament Speaker Binali Yıldırım said on Wednesday during his official visit in Azerbaijan.

"Turkey and Azerbaijan share the same faith in the same region. There are some serious plans in our region nowadays," a statement from the parliament quoted Yıldırım as saying at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Oktay Asadov.

"We need to increase our solidarity and collaboration against these plans. We need to have a firm stance against those who want to destabilize our region,"

For his part, Asadov said Azerbaijan wants to further increase the bilateral relations with Turkey.

"Last year, the bilateral trade volume was $2.6 billion and it was $1.9 billion in the first half of this year. Our presidents ordered the increase of these number. We will work more for this," Asadov added.

Yıldırım said these numbers are low considering the potentials of the two countries. "We need to increase trade. For this, it is beneficial to have more mutual talks," he added.

Yıldırım will be received by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and meet Prime Minister Novruz Memmedov in capital Baku during his visit.