Azerbaijan's President To Visit France

NAKHCHEVAN, Azerbaijan, Sept 2 (AFP) - Ilham Aliyev, president of the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, said Thursday he would be meeting his French counterpart on a visit to Paris later this month.
"My forthcoming trip to Paris is a working visit. I expect that during the visit I will be meeting with President (Jacques) Chirac," Aliyev told reporters on a visit to the western Azeri province of Nakhchevan.
France has emerged as the closest European ally of Azerbaijan, an oil-rich state on the Caspian Sea with a mainly Muslim population. France was the first Western state that Aliyev visited after his election last year.
Officials say Azerbaijan's president will travel to France on September 9, though Aliyev himself did not disclose the exact date.
The visit will coincide with a ceremony in the French capital to formally appoint Aliyev's wife, Mehriban, as a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO, the United Nations's cultural arm.