ISTANBUL

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev will pay a three-day state visit to China, an official statement from Beijing said on Monday.

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Aliyev will visit China starting Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Azerbaijan remains China’s top trade partner in the South Caucasus with bilateral trade at $3.7 billion in 2023.

Ahead of Aliyev’s trip to Beijing, the two sides held the 10th session of the inter-governmental trade and economic cooperation commission in Baku.

While the two sides have vowed to institutionalize bilateral investment dialogue, the meeting held in Azerbaijan’s capital also concluded with a formal protocol that endorsed broader strategic collaboration across industry, energy, transport, technology, agriculture and tourism.