Relations with China strategically important: Azerbaijani president

BAKU, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijan-China relations are strategically important and have a lot of potential, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said here Friday.

"I am very glad that the relations are developing very successfully," Aliyev said when answering a question about the cooperation between Azerbaijan and China during an international conference themed "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation."

Highlighting the cooperation in the field of transportation and transit, he said Azerbaijan "already started to receive cargo from China, but not in big volumes because we clearly understand that China has the diversified supply routes through different sources. And we just tried to make our route more attractive."

"But recently we got several messages from Chinese companies that they want to increase the transportation of cargoes through the Middle Corridor," said the president.

Calling these the new opportunities for Azerbaijan, Aliyev stressed the necessity of investing in the expansion of the country's transportation to handle potential cargo growth.

The Azerbaijani leader also said his country's cooperation with China is not limited just to transit and transportation.

"We are now in the process of creating the Alat Free Economic Zone, which will receive its first residents, I hope, next year. It is in a very good location, just next to the sea port, and has a big area. And the regulations there are very attractive for international companies," he said.

"We would like to see Chinese companies as investors here," Aliyev noted.