Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria Mladen Marinov paid an official visit to our country at the invitation of Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Colonel-General Vilayat Eyvazov.
On November 21, Mr. Mladen Marinov and his entourage visited the Alley of Honor and laid a wreath at the monument of the National Leader of our people, architect and founder of the modern Azerbaijan State Heydar Aliyev and paid tribute to the memory of the great leader. The guests also laid flowers at the grave of a prominent ophthalmologist, Academician Zarifa Aliyeva.
Further, the guests laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame Memorial in the Alley of Martyrs where the sons of our homeland who gave their lives for its independence are buried, visited the Eternal Flame and laid a wreath at the monument.

Then, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Colonel-General Vilayat Eyvazov, received the delegation headed by Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria Mladen Marinov.
After welcoming the guests, Minister expressed his gratitude to his Bulgarian colleague for accepting his invitation and visiting our country and recalled with satisfaction his participation in the 37th Conference of European metropolitan police chiefs held in Baku in August of 2015 during his tenure of office of the Head of Directorate of Interior of Sofia.

Minister emphasized that under the leadership of President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan has passed the path of rapid development and progress, strengthened its international authority and has become a state where people of various religions and nationalities live in the conditions of mutual respect and solidarity, and expressed his satisfaction with rise of level of the strategic partnership within the cooperation of the two states in recent years. He also noted that such mutual visits and contacts would give impetus to further broadening of the cooperation.

Mr. V.Eyvazov further shared brief information about the environment of chaos, anarchy, impunity in the first years of independence, at the same time, the occupation of 20 percent of our lands and more than 1 million of our compatriots expelled from their native lands as a result of Armenia's military intervention. It was stressed that a wise policy of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev who returned to power on insistence of the Azerbaijani people, intensive and effective activities carried out in law enforcement including tireless and effective efforts of the Internal Affairs bodies have restored order and peace and regain control over the crime situation in the country. The efforts made to ensure stability and tranquility created favorable conditions for the continuous development of the country's economy.
Speaking on the law and democratic reforms carried out in the Internal Affairs bodies, the Minister shared information on improvement of the operational and service activities in accordance with the international standards and norms and the work being carried out for creation of a new legal framework with human rights and freedoms as a priority. Mr. Eyvazov also noted that state-of-the-art information technologies are widely used in crime prevention.

Minister V.Eyvazov highly appreciated the support given to our republic by Bulgaria in the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union, noted the direct connection between the dynamic development of political, economic and commercial relations and steady state of security, and expressed his confidence that this visit would provide major breakthroughs in cooperation between the MIAs of our countries. Mr. Eyvazov emphasized the importance of joining efforts in the fight against today’s threats and challenges including terrorism, extremism and all types of transnational organized crime and the role of exchange of operative information and advanced experience as well as further expansion of the treaty and legal basis of cooperation in taking decisive measures against such global threats.

Colonel-General V.Eyvazov further noted that the Supplementary Protocol to the Agreement on Cooperation in Combating Crime between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria signed in Baku on April 27, 2012 with the participation of experts was developed in this context and agreed by relevant state authorities. Minister V.Eyvazov emphasized that this instrument which is supposed to become the first instrument signed by our country with a member-state of the European Union takes into consideration interests and international obligations of both parties and expressed his confidence that it would promote further enhancement of the cooperation in the field of combating crime.
Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria Mladen Marinov warmly thanked his Azerbaijani colleague for the official invitation and hospitality and mentioned that he was proud of being the first Minister of Interior of Bulgaria who paid an official visit to our republic. Having noted that relations between our states expanded in all spheres over recent years, Mr.Mladen Marinov expressed his interest in further expanding cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan. Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria further shared information about functional responsibilities and areas of activities of the agency headed by him, about the current crime situation and measures taken in this area.

At the end of the meeting Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Colonel-General Vilayat Eyvazov and Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria Mladen Marinov signed the Protocol to the Agreement on Cooperation in Combating Crime between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of our country to the Republic of Bulgaria Nargiz Gurbanova and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to our country Nikolai Yankov also took part in the reception.