Mikhail Mishustin held talks with Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov.
Mikhail Mishustin and Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov during their meeting in Baku
Mikhail Mishustin and Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov meet in Baku
Russia-Azerbaijan talks
Mikhail Mishustin at the Russia-Azerbaijan talks in Baku
Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov at the Russia-Azerbaijan talks in Baku. Left: Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev who is also Azerbaijan’s Co-Chair of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation; right: Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu
Documents signed following the Russia-Azerbaijan talks
Mikhail Mishustin and Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov during their meeting in Baku
Excerpts from the transcript:
Ali Asadov: Mr Mishustin, members of the Russian delegation, I am very pleased to welcome you in Azerbaijan. Welcome to Azerbaijan. We are very happy to see you again in Baku.
Mr Mishustin, first of all, I would like to sincerely thank you for the exceptional hospitality and warm welcome provided to me and the delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan during our working visit to Moscow last December.
Colleagues, as you know, on 7 February an early presidential election was held in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani people once again voted for peace, stability and progress. According to the election results, Ilham Aliyev won with 92.12 percent of the votes.
The President approved the new Government of Azerbaijan and set new tasks for us both in domestic and foreign policy.
Making progress in relations with friendly countries, including the Russian Federation, remains an important priority of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. We seek to further strengthen and expand neighborly relations, mutually beneficial cooperation and strategic partnership with Russia. We are also committed to continuing our interaction within the CIS.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again wish the Russian Federation good luck chairing the CIS this year.
Mr Mishustin, we attach great importance to your visit. It provides us with a good opportunity to compare notes on issues of mutual interest, discuss the implementation of agreements and instructions of our heads of state, and outline new areas to further expand our mutually beneficial cooperation.
Thanks to the political will and joint efforts of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, today our countries enjoy a strategic partnership. On 22 February, exactly two years ago, the presidents signed the Declaration on Allied Cooperation, which brought our ties to a qualitatively new level.
Mr Mishustin, I fondly recall your visit to Baku in November 2022, during which we held the 11th Azerbaijani-Russian interregional forum together. I would like to especially note that the foundation of the forum was laid by our presidents, which clearly indicates the critical importance our countries attach to interregional cooperation at the highest level.
Several days ago, deputy prime ministers Mustafayev and Overchuk chaired the 12th Azerbaijani-Russian interregional forum in the Stavropol Territory. Azerbaijan maintains economic ties with 80 Russian regions. We hope that the forum will further encourage our interregional business cooperation.
In January, a roadmap for the development of key areas of cooperation for 2024–2026 was signed in Baku. It is worth noting that the seven roadmaps covering 2018–2023 that have already been completed, under which a number of mutually beneficial projects were implemented, have been successful.
Following our meeting today, documents on the development of checkpoints and road infrastructure on the border, as well as in the field of tourism and culture, will be signed. All these documents are an important addition to our impressive legal framework, which includes over 260 signed documents today.
Russia is among Azerbaijan’s key trading partners. Trade and economic relations between our countries are developing consistently. Bilateral trade is growing steadily. In 2023, our trade reached a record high of almost $4.4 billion. Based on this year’s results so far, we hope to reach even higher.
In recent years, we have managed to make significant progress in many areas of cooperation: investment interaction, industrial cooperation, cooperation in transport, energy, agriculture, cultural and humanitarian ties, and many other areas.
I hope that today we will discuss all of this in detail and reach a mutual understanding on specific ways to make progress in the areas of interest to us.
Mr Mishustin, I would like to once again welcome you and your representative delegation in Azerbaijan. It is my great pleasure to give you the floor. Please.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Asadov.
My dear friends, we are sincerely happy to see you again.
First, I would like to thank you personally, Mr Asadov, and all of our Azerbaijani colleagues for your warm, hospitable reception for the Russian delegation in Baku. Using this opportunity, I would also like to convey to all of you best wishes and greetings from President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
We are always in contact with you, Mr Asadov. In December, we met at the CIS Heads of Government Council session in Moscow where we discussed the bilateral agenda. Before that, we worked together in the CIS events in Sochi.
I can say that we are sincerely interested in strengthening our friendship and cooperation with friendly Azerbaijan. This is how we work. Our work is based on the Declaration of Allied Interaction between Russia and Azerbaijan that was signed in Moscow in February 2022. We consider our priority goal the promotion of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and an increase in mutual investment – by both Russia and Azerbaijan.
You mentioned our trade figures from last year – 370 billion roubles, or 7 billion manats. We see substantial potential for developing interaction in many areas. We discussed this in detail today. This includes energy, industry, shipbuilding, agriculture, high-technology and innovation. There are great opportunities for joint projects and joint investment.
We also consider logistics and transport to be one of our key areas, as you mentioned. We have removed queues at the Russia-Azerbaijan border and are stepping up the modernization of the border checkpoints. After reconstruction, capacity will increase to 3,000 vehicles per day. We are developing the railway system, and the road and marine infrastructure on the western section of the International North-South Transport Corridor that passes through Azerbaijan.
I am confident that we have great opportunities for expanding cooperation in energy. I am referring to both current projects and new and promising initiatives.
We have traditionally focused on the cultural and humanitarian area. Mr Ambassador is doing very much in this respect. Lomonosov Moscow State University and Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University branches are successfully operating in Baku.
Over 7,000 Azerbaijani students are studying in Moscow. The Government has allocated 270 grants to Azerbaijani students for this academic year. We have launched a programme to support Russian theatres abroad. We are interested in helping the Samed Vurgun Azerbaijani State Academic Russian Drama Theatre produce plays and purchase new equipment.
We consider the unblocking of economic and transport connections in the South Caucasus to be particularly important. We are interested in peace, stability and prosperity in our common region.
Mr Asadov, dear friends, we have a long agenda. I suggest starting our talks. Thank you!
