Mikhail Mishustin meets with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
Mikhail Mishustin meets with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
Mikhail Mishustin meets with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
Mikhail Mishustin: Mr Aliyev, I am delighted to welcome you here. I suggest that we focus on key strategic matters in light of the Declaration on Allied Interaction between Russia and Azerbaijan, which you and Vladimir Putin signed today. This is an essential document. It elevates our friendly and neighbourly relations to a whole new level. Let me reassure you that the Government of the Russian Federation will do everything to fulfil its provisions.
Russia is sincere in its commitment to the friendship with our partners in Azerbaijan. This friendship is rooted in the solid ties between our brotherly nations. This year, we are marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations, but the history of our neighbourly relations dates back centuries. It is critical that despite the pandemic we reinforce our trade and economic cooperation. As you have already discussed it with the President, trade increased 16 percent compared to 2020 to $3.3 billion. More than 1,000 companies with Russian capital work in Azerbaijan, and there are many joint projects in energy, machine building, and transport. There is also great potential for cooperation in agriculture, infrastructure development, renewable energy, and the digital economy. Our intergovernmental commission is proactively working on these matters, co-chaired on the Russian side by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk.
Regular business missions by Russian companies to Azerbaijan also yield positive results. We would like to continue these contacts and visits, organised by the Russian Export Centre. We also devote great attention to our ties between regions. Over 70 Russian regions cooperate with Azerbaijan. We fight jointly Covid-19 and help each other. Russia has provided Azerbaijan with special test kits, the best Russian medical teams have left for Azerbaijan and about 220,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine have already been delivered. I am convinced that mass vaccination will help us cope with the pandemic and protect the health of our people.
I would also like to specially note an important statement by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia that makes it possible to develop the South Caucasus region. I am convinced that the unblocking of economic and transport ties and the creation of new infrastructure routes meet the interests of all South Caucasus states.
We have a large and substantive agenda. We are delighted that you have arrived here and visited the Government Coordination Centre. Of course, we are ready to discuss all topical matters of our interaction.
You now have the floor, please.
Ilham Aliyev: Thank you very much, Mr Mishustin. Thank you for your kind words. You have noted absolutely correctly that the Declaration on Allied Interaction was signed today. This is a new stage in the development of our relations. Today, President Vladimir Putin and I spoke with each other for a long time, we discussed many important subjects regarding bilateral cooperation and regional matters. And, of course, during the press point, we noted the importance of this day that will go down in the history of interstate relations between our countries. It may be symbolic, but this is taking place on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Apart from other matters, we discussed the subject of trade and economic cooperation in detail, and we expressed satisfaction with the development of our ties.
And I would like to thank you for your personal attention to the development of trade and economic ties between our countries. Bilateral trade has increased considerably, with due consideration for the pandemic situation, and, of course, this shows how efficiently we work. I would also like to note the effective work of the intergovernmental commission, headed by our countries’ deputy prime ministers. Its members promptly address problems arising at customs checkpoints, and they are also engaged in the strategic planning of our trade and economic ties.
It is very good that mutual trade continues to expand. I believe that there is even greater potential. I hope that we will also see an expansion in trade in 2022.
And, certainly, regional-related matters, taking into account the new regional realities, create positive pre-requisites for strengthening confidence-building measures, peace and security in the region, as well as for mutually beneficial economic partnership in bilateral and multilateral formats.
Today, at our meeting with the President of the Russian Federation, we also discussed prospects for the new 3 + 3 cooperation format that mostly stipulates active work on transport, communications and logistics matters at this stage. I am confident that the discussions and opinion exchanges that we are due to conduct today, will help implement all clauses of the November 2020 trilateral statement by Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, so that we can carry out our plans in full.
Russian-Azerbaijani relations have withstood the test of time. We, of course, have expanded mutual ties throughout the entire period of our diplomatic relations. But we would not have been able to achieve these successes without the foundation that was laid by previous generations.
Today, we have signed the Declaration on Allied Interaction, a special document in the portfolio of our contractual-legal framework. I am confident that it will help strengthen the friendly and neighbourly relations between our countries that have today acquired the status of allied relations.
I would like to specially thank Russia for helping us to deal with the Covid-19 infection. We are very grateful for your decision to send a team of medical specialists. We have received PCR tests, and, as you know, we have certified the Sputnik vaccine. We expect to continue working in this direction, so as to protect the health of our citizens.
Thank you once again for this opportunity to exchange opinions. Thank you very much for a very interesting presentation at the Government Coordination Centre. We will now discuss practical matters stemming from general guidelines.
