“I want to send the best regards from the President of the United States, both to you personally and to the people of Azerbaijan,” US Vice President James David Vance said during his press statement with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

“I think this has, for a very long time, been an underappreciated but very, very, very important partnership and friendship for the United States of America. I think many Americans may not know that, for example, the Azerbaijanis were some of the last to leave Afghanistan. They were very supportive in the global war on terrorism. They fought alongside United States Marines in Afghanistan, and, in fact, earned a reputation as being some of the toughest and fiercest troops anywhere in the world. And so we wanted to come today to show our appreciation for this friendship, but also to really turn the page and open up the next chapter,” he added.