Azerbaijan’s Vice President and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva and her daughter, Leyla Aliyeva, have received Moroccan Princess Lalla Hasnaa to discuss cultural cooperation between Azerbaijan and Morocco.
The Aliyevas received Princess Lalla, Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s sister, on Wednesday.
According to the Azerbaijani state-run news agency Azertac, they discussed developing relations between their countries and ‘sincere ties of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Morocco, rooted in shared historical, cultural, and religious values’.
They additionally discussed ‘expanding relations in the humanitarian and cultural spheres’ and the hosting of Azerbaijani Culture Days in Morocco. They also touched on the Moroccan Culture Days events held in Azerbaijan.
The Aliyevs also ‘particularly underlined […] Azerbaijan’s commitment to strengthening Islamic solidarity and promoting collaboration among Muslim countries in education, science, and culture’.
They also discussed Leyla Aliyeva’s visit to Morocco in October 2024 as vice president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
According to Morocco World News, the Moroccan princess visited the Azerbaijan International Carpet Festival in Baku on Sunday.
Aliyeva usually partakes in official receptions alongside President Ilham Aliyev.
Earlier in the week, the two received Russian Patriarch Kirill, who presented the Saint Princess Olga Order to Aliyeva ‘in recognition of her contributions to the preservation of traditional values in society and the promotion of intercultural and interfaith dialogue’.
Aliyeva became vice president in 2017, following constitutional amendments that created the post. Aliyeva’s family, the Pashayevs, also hold considerable sway in Azerbaijani politics and business through their conglomerate, PASHA Holding.
According to an OCCRP investigation, PASHA Holding belongs to Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva, the daughters of President Aliyev, and Mir Jamal Pashayev, Mehriban Aliyeva’s cousin.
Aytan Farhadova
