Addressing reporters after the meeting at a joint news conference, President Mesic said Croatia and Azerbaijan today signed an agreement on cultural cooperation, a protocol on cooperation between the two foreign ministries, and a memorandum on cooperation between the countries' civil aviation authorities.
Mesic said that Azerbaijan would benefit greatly from the opening of an oil pipeline running via its territory from the Caspian Sea. The income which Azerbaijan will earn from oil transport will be counted in billions of dollars which the country will use to solve its current problems and which will make it a new Norway, Mesic said.
The Croatian president said the talks also focused on the situation in the regions where the two countries were located, stating that terrorism was one of the biggest threats in today's world and that efforts should be made to fight its causes, poverty and dependence of some peoples.
Mesic said Aliyev invited him to visit Azerbaijan, which he accepted gladly.
Addressing reporters, President Aliyev said his visit was not only an important step in the development of bilateral relations and that his decision to visit Croatia as the first country in the region also bore witness to the importance which his country attached to Croatia.
Aliyev said he and Mesic reached a consensus on all issues they discussed because the two countries
had similar views and methods of solving problems.
He went on to say that Croatia and Azerbaijan had a lot in common because they had been deprived of independence for years, as well as that they had suffered an act of foreign aggression.
He thanked Mesic for showing understanding for his country's problems and the need to liberate some of its regions, expressing hope that a lasting peace would be established in Azerbaijan as it had been established in South-East Europe.
He explained that his country had been exposed to aggression by Armenia under the pretext of protection of Armenians in the Upper Karabakh region.
There was no need for the aggression because Armenians have lived in Upper Karabakh for more than 150 years and Azerbaijan offered them the highest possible level of autonomy. The actual goal was the occupation of territory, which was achieved with the assistance of foreign military forces, Aliyev said, expressing hope that Azerbaijan would regain sovereignty over its entire territory.
He went on to say that cooperation possibilities between the two countries were best in the power industry, tourism and agriculture, as well as in all other sectors of the economy. The Azerbaijani delegation visiting Croatia also includes a group of business people.
The two presidents said they discussed the issue of opening diplomatic offices, with Mesic saying that they discussed the opening of honorary consulates.
President Aliyev said he hoped Croatia would become a permanent member of the European Union and that it would help his country draw closer to Europe.
The Azerbaijani delegation is visiting Croatia at the invitation of President Stjepan Mesic. It will end its visit by visiting the northern Adriatic archipelago of Brijuni.