A study exchange trip in Prague in 1967/68 stood at the beginning of a story of friendship between Akif Guliyev and Czech colleagues which he maintained until the last moment of his life. Since 1972 when he became the Head of the BSU Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, he was responsible for the organisation of exchange between the BSU Faculty of Biology and the Faculty of Science of the Charles University in Prague which allowed more than 200 students and academic personnel to learn, teach and conduct research abroad. After a break due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and tragic war events of the early 1990s, both faculties managed to rebuild their cooperation and put it on a firm footing of a bilateral agreement between the BSU and the Charles University as well as the ERASMUS+ programme; for his central role in these efforts, Professor Guliyev received the Charles University Gold Medal in 2012. He also contributed to the development of scientific cooperation as well as student and academic exchange between the BSU and the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, the Masaryk University in Brno and the Mendel University in Brno. Ever since the opening of the Czech Embassy in Baku in 2010, he helped Czech diplomats and visitors to create contacts among Azerbaijani institutions and society. While his friendship, wisdom and humour will be sadly missed, the foundations of friendship and understanding among our countries which he helped to establish are here to stay.

Allah rəhmət eləsin!