Zakir Ibrahimov Met with the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Our Country

Chairman of the Board of AzerGold Closed Joint Stock Company (CJSC) Zakir Ibrahimov met with the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Uzbekistan to our country Bahrom Ashrafkhanov.

At the meeting, Z. Ibrahimov noted that Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan ties have a rich history, and the relations between our peoples with a common cultural heritage and ethnic and religious roots are based on friendship, brotherhood, and mutual respect, as well as economic cooperation between the two countries in all fields. He stressed that the close friendly relations between the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and the President of Uzbekistan, Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, based on long-standing traditions, form the foundation of this development, and interstate relations like those between our brotherly nations are strengthening day by day.

The Chairman of the Board spoke about AzerGold’s CJSC achievements in its fields of activity, the strategic plans, and the work done in the mining sector. Z. Ibrahimov noted that although mining is a relatively new field in Azerbaijan compared to the oil and gas industry, great successes have been achieved in recent years, especially in gold extraction. The Chairman of the Board said that the Joint Stock Company has managed to fully eliminate the dependence on the state budget for gold deposits, and successfully continue the preparatory work for the exploitation of new non-ferrous and ferrous metal deposits.

Z. Ibrahimov noted that AzerGold CJSC is currently successfully implementing 3 mining projects: the operation of Chovdar, Marah, and Tulallar gold deposits and large-scale projects such as Dashkasan iron ore group, Filizchay polymetallic ore, and Ortakend gold deposit, and these CJSC’s projects are open for foreign investment. The Chairman of the Board said that the geological survey in the area of Tutkhun gold deposits in the Kalbajar region, liberated from occupation, is underway, but this process cannot be quick since during the occupation, those areas have been contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance, and to avoid time loss, non-invasive hyperspectral satellite images are taken, which are considered innovative exploration techniques.

Z. Ibrahimov noted that along with successful mining in Azerbaijan, AzerGold CJSC is interested in expanding its activity by establishing partner relations beyond the country, and recalled mutual visits and business meetings between the parties to establish partner relations in this field with the brotherly Republic of Uzbekistan, which is among the top 10 in the world in terms of gold reserves. He expressed his satisfaction with rising cooperation in the geological exploration and development of gold deposits on the territory of Uzbekistan to a higher level with the Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement in the appropriate field, signed between AzerGold and the Ministry of Mining Industry and Geology of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, on February 24, 2023.

In turn, B. Ashrafkhanov noted that Azerbaijan is an important partner for Uzbekistan, and they are interested in cooperation with AzerGold CJSC in the exploration and management of new non-ferrous metal deposits in his country. The Ambassador noted the importance of arranging joint activity in mining as a new field of cooperation between the two countries and drew attention to the mutual benefit of establishing cooperation with AzerGold CJSC, which has wide experience in geological exploration and mine exploitation.

At the meeting, other issues of mutual interest were also discussed.