Azerbaijani, Russian FMs meet

Baku, July 12, AZERTAC Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has met with Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov. They noted that the high level dialogue between the two countries' presidents and their political will gave a serious impetus to the overall development of strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Russia. The ministers hailed the importance of the regular high-level reciprocal visits in promoting cooperation, and exchanged views on the agenda of bilateral and multilateral relations and the settlement process of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The two underlined the political significance of Baku Declaration on friendship and strategic partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation signed on July 3, 2008. Pointing to the activity of the interparliamentary commission since 2003, the sides praised the sustainable cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries. They stressed the importance of Vienna and Saint-Petersburg meetings in terms of settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The two ministers hailed the significant role of the Intergovernmental Commission on the economic issues between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation and the working groups on the issues of the agriculture and energy in the development of economic relations between the two countries. They stressed the substantial contribution of Azerbaijan-Russia Interregional Forum which is being held since 2011 in strengthening the economic and trade ties. Praising the volume of trade turnover between the two countries, the FMs described further increase of the pace of bilateral trade relations as one of the most important issues on the agenda. They underlined favorable opportunities for development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia in petroleum engineering, petrochemistry, metallurgy, mining, aviation industry, automotive industry and agricultural engineering, transportation and heavy industry, pharmacology and tourism fields. Hailing the importance of North-South transport corridor for the large-scale transit transportation, the ministers underlined the trilateral cooperation of Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia in this field. Pointing to the mutual understanding and cooperation between the two countries on the Caspian Sea issues, the sides noted that Azerbaijan and Russia along with other littoral states were making efforts towards making the Caspian Sea a venue of friendship and cooperation. Following the meeting the ministers had a joint press conference.