The cordial political ties between Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan have been the prime contributor for growing relations between the two nations in other areas of interest, according to the southeastern European country's top diplomat in the Kingdom.
Shahin Abdullayev, Azerbaijan's ambassador in Riyadh, said Saudi investors could have a role in the project to revive the Great Silk Route that links Europe and Asia.
"Azerbaijan's excellent political ties with Saudi Arabia have been contributing to develop economic, trade, investment and tourism cooperation," he said.
Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Abdullayev also hailed the Kingdom’s support for the Azeri position in its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
A career diplomat of the Soviet era with his first overseas posting in Yemen, Abdullayev is fluent of Arabic. He has been playing an active role to cement his country's relations with the Kingdom.
“Our understanding is that we share a common view on many regional and international matters, we support each other at various international venues," Abdullayev said.
He said 35,000 Saudi citizens visited Azerbaijan in 2017, which is one of the highest from GCC countries.
Abdillayev said the Saudi tourist flow was expected to increase further in the current year as more people from the Kingdom started visiting the country.
He said a simplified visa procedure had been introduced to facilitate travel by Saudi citizens to Azerbaijan, where visa upon arrival is available to them.
“The connectivity between Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan has been improving with the availability of direct flights from Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Qassim," he added.