Russian, Azerbaijani leaders to discuss relations, regional agenda

MOSCOW, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev
will visit the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Tuesday at the
invitation of President Dmitry Medvedev.
"During the meeting, the two presidents intend to have an substantial
exchange of views on key aspects of Russian-Azerbaijani relations, and
pressing issues on the regional agenda, primarily the status of
negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement," the presidential press
service said on Monday.
The two countries traditionally maintain a regular political dialogue
at all levels. The presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan meet in a
trilateral format with the president of Armenia to discuss the settlement
in the mostly Armenian populated Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The last such meeting took place in Kazan on June 24.
In 2011, Baku was visited by Presidential chief of staff Sergei
Naryshkin in January, First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov in May,
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in July, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov
in July, Federal Service for Control of Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
Director Viktor Ivanov in January, Transport Minister Igor Levitin and
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev in June.
Azerbaijan's First Vice Prime Minister Yagub Eyubov visited Moscow in
March and Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov in January, June and July. The
heads of other Azerbaijani ministries and agencies travelled to Russia as
well.
Priority attention at the talks will be paid to the implementation of
the trade, economic, energy, investment and banking agreements reached
during the Russian president's visit to Baku in September 2010.
In January-May 2011, trade between the two countries made up 1.12
billion dollars, which is an 86.4 percent growth as compared with the same
period last year. Exports grew 83.7 percent as compared with the same
period last year, amounting to 935.4 million dollars, while imports grew
101.4 percent, making up 184.6 million dollars.
Russia exports to Azerbaijan food, agricultural raw materials,
machinery, equipment, vehicles, wood, and pulp-and-paper products. It buys
mainly Azerbaijani textile, cotton, agricultural and other products.
The activity of the intergovernmental commission chaired by Russian
Deputy Prime Minister and Russian President's Envoy to the North Caucasian
Federal District Alexander Khloponin and Azerbaijani First Deputy Prime
Minister Yagub Eyubov makes substantial contribution to the development of
cooperation in trade and economy.
The two presidents are also expected to exchange views on humanitarian
cooperation. The First Baku International Humanitarian Forum will be held
in the Azerbaijani capital in October under the patronage of the
presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan. Naryshkin and his Azerbaijani
counterpart Ramiz Mekhtiyev co-chair the forum organising committee.
The two leaders will also discuss Caspian issues in the light of the
talks on the legal status of the Caspian Sea and the decisions of the 3rd
summit of the Caspian states held in Baku on November 2010.