On February 20, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of France, Mr. Zachary Gross, and embassy staff visited Sumgayit State University.

The guests were welcomed by the university rector Professor Elkhan Huseynov. He spoke about cooperation between Azerbaijan and France and expressed hope for the successful development of these relations in the future. He noted that, thanks to the political wisdom of nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev, as the founder of friendly relations between our countries, French-Azerbaijani bilateral relations have reached a high level. Today, this policy is successfully pursued by President Ilham Aliyev. Stressing the important role of education in the development of cooperation between countries, the rector spoke about the history, directions of activity and international relations of SSU, about ongoing projects and state programs in the field of education, about strategic directions for the development of higher education in our country. Prof. E. Huseynov said that SSU cooperates with many leading universities in the world, as well as with international companies and institutions. So, for example, in the framework of the ERASMUS + LPEB 561732-EPP-1-2015 project “Professional Bachelor in open and distance learning for the energy and environmental performance of buildings in the Russian Federation, China and Azerbaijan” coordinated by the CNAM Institute (France), an agreement on double graduation of students has been signed between the CNAM Institute and SSU. In this regard, trips to the French cities of Paris and Lyon were organized: vice-rector for International Relations, associate professor Gafar Atayev, head of the Department of Electromechanics, associate professor Turgay Huseynov (Academy of Grenoble), as well as a group of teachers and students of SSU. University professors took an active part in an international conference in France. The rector also said that French experts participated in trainings and meetings at SSU as part of the TWINNING project. Within the framework of mutual cooperation, a trip of vice-rector for Teaching Organization and Training Technologies Natig Talibov, is planned to France in March.

The rector also noted that the arrival of foreign ambassadors at the university and meetings held with them are also important indicators of international cooperation. He noted the importance of such meetings in terms of the further development of cooperation between the two countries in the field of science and education.

Having informed that he had visited Sumgayit State University for the first time, the ambassador expressed satisfaction with the invitation and meeting and told in detail about the history of the French Republic. He emphasized the high level of relations between the two countries and expressed confidence that a lot of work will be done to strengthen relations between universities.

Jerome Kel, cooperation adviser to the French Embassy and director of the French Institute in Azerbaijan, said that France and Azerbaijan have long-standing and friendly relations. These relations are being strengthened in the field of education, higher education, political and economic spheres. He expressed interest in further strengthening relations with Sumgayit State University in this direction. He stressed that the holding of such meetings will contribute to the further expansion of bilateral relations.

The meeting discussed future prospects, issues of exchange of students and teachers.

Mutual gifts were presented and photographs were taken.