President Ilham Aliyev has pledged to further strengthen Azerbaijan-Germany partnership, the presidential press service said.

At a meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle here on Thursday, Aliyev said he was confident the foreign minister's visit would further boost the existing partnership between the two states.

He also noted bilateral relations with Germany cover a broad range of areas.

For his part, the German foreign minister stressed the importance of Azerbaijan's election as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and future cooperation within this framework.

Azerbaijan joined the Security Council as a non-permanent member in January for a two-year term. The Security Council consists of 10 non-permanent members and five veto-wielding permanent members.

Westerwelle also discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, energy cooperation and other issues with the Azerbaijani president.

At a press conference held Wednesday, Westerwelle said Azerbaijan is a major political and economic partner of Germany.

He has discussed with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov the situation in Iran and Syria. "We do not want Iran to use nuclear energy as a weapon," he told reporters.

Westerwelle arrived in Baku on Wednesday for an official visit to Azerbaijan in his three-nation South Caucasus tour that also includes Georgia and Armenia.