As China and Azerbaijan celebrate the 27th anniversary of establishing bilateral diplomatic ties, Hikmat Hajiyev, head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan and a loyal reader of China Daily, gave an exclusive interview about China-Azerbaijan relations, trade cooperation and the great prospects of the Belt and Road Initiative which tightly connects the two countries, as well as other countries in Europe and Asia.

As a country located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding for friendship and cooperation with China in 1994, and has maintained mutually beneficial cooperation with China since then. "Bilateral relations of the two countries, from high-level political dialogue, economic and trade cooperation, to energy, education, culture and humanitarian spheres are developing," Hajiyev said.