Heydar Aliyev: I haven’t seen you for a long time, Mr. Brown.

John Brown: Indeed, two years have passed.

Mr. President, I am very glad to see you today.

Heydar Aliyev: How are you?

John Brown: Thank you, Mr. President. I am fine. I arrived in Baku last night. I noticed that your town is growing and updated. Your town is really undergoing great changes. In addition, I have been in the shipbuilding plant and saw your terminal in Sangachal. You have achieved an impressive progress. But the most important of all this is the fact that I met you.

Heydar Aliyev: I built that shipbuilding plant, when I headed Azerbaijan. Without this plant it would have been difficult to work with you.

John Brown: In fact, it is a huge plant. Many people work there, there is a lot of work. New platform is constructed and the old equipments are updated. There is activity everywhere.

Heydar Aliyev: We comply with all our obligations. And what about you?

John Brown: Mr. President, before answering your question, let me congratulate you on your birthday. However, I sent you a written greeting, but did not congratulate you personally. Therefore I am very pleased to congratulate you on your birthday.

Heydar Aliyev: Thank you very much.

John Brown: Mr. President, I must tell you that your country does a lot of interesting work. I talked about them a little bit earlier with the president of the State Oil Company Natig Aliyev in the waiting room. Indeed, thanks to your determination and perseverance, purpose, which at one time seemed to us a dream, now has turned into a reality. Your oil and gas strategy, your policy has been successfully implemented and the pipeline, which seemed a legend is already becoming a reality. Now the work is conducted well and all of them are your seeds that are beginning to grow and bear fruit. We have achieved the implementation of all of these cases thanks to your determination.

Heydar Aliyev: Thank you very much. It is necessary that in future not to allow delays in any stage.

John Brown: Mr. President, you can be absolutely sure. The work will be performed in time. I talked to all the members of the working groups. Everyone promised that the work will be completed on time. We comply with the plan. The work is scheduled. Everyone is seriously involved in the work.

After our meeting today, I shall leave for Georgia tomorrow. I shall be watching the activity in Georgia. From there I plan to go to Turkey. I shall watch the work in Turkey.

I am fully confident that in few days I shall be able to see the extent of the work. That is, I shall know how work is conducted from oil extracting fields in Azerbaijan to the terminal in the port of Ceyhan of the Mediterranean.

Heydar Aliyev: Thank you very much. Convey my greetings to President Eduard Shevardnadze and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

John Brown: Sure, I shall.

Heydar Aliyev: But, as I told you, we have to go to Ceyhan together.

John Brown: Mr. President, I would have done it with great pleasure. Once you have the time, we can go there with you.

Heydar Aliyev: No, you will go there right now and when the oil reaches Ceyhan, we shall go there together with you.

John Brown: Of course it will be a great event.

Heydar Aliyev: I expect it to be so.

John Brown: Mr. President, this moment is important and your participation in this celebration is very important.

Translated from newspaper «Azerbaijan», May 27, 2003