Speech of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev at the welcome ceremony of the UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Bina Airport, Baku during his official visit to Azerbaijan - October 29, 1994

I welcome the UN Secretary-General Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali in Azerbaijan. A few days ago the Republic of Azerbaijan celebrated the third anniversary of its independence. In these three years the Republic of Azerbaijan joined the world community, as well as the United Nations. It is the first visit of Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali to Azerbaijan. We highly appreciate it and cherish great hopes in this visit.

The critical situation of Azerbaijan, the state of war, existence of over one million refugees within the republic attract the attention of the world. We always the feel attention of the UN and its Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to these issues. I hope that the issues of strengthening our independence, the tasks facing Azerbaijan will be discussed in our negotiations, and Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali will pay attention to them.

Our distinguished friend Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, welcome to Azerbaijan. Every citizen, every family welcomes you in our country and is ready to show hospitality to you.

"Azerbaycan" newspaper, October 30, 1994