Official Visit to the Russian Federation by Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan
PRESS RELEASE
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, made an official visit to the Russian Federation from July 17 to 18 at the invitation of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.
Talks took place between the ministers of foreign affairs of the two states.
Mammadyarov conveyed a message from the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, which is a reply to the message of the Russian leader on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement problem that was handed to President Aliyev by Sergey Lavrov in Baku on July 8.
Major aspects of bilateral cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian areas were discussed, along with a wide range of regional and international issues.
There was reaffirmed the mutual desire of the two sides to promote stronger strategic partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan through intensifying political dialogue, increasing the effectiveness of economic and trade cooperation, and building up ties in the humanitarian and other fields.
The ministers of foreign affairs of Russia and Azerbaijan exchanged the instruments of ratification for the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the State Border of September 3, 2010, and signed an appropriate protocol.
The ministers were unanimous in the view that the dynamic evolution of the relations of strategic partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan meets the vital interests of the peoples of the two countries and is an important factor of maintaining peace and stability in the Caucasus and the Caspian region.
The ministers of foreign affairs of Russia and Azerbaijan spoke for improving bilateral cooperation within the framework of universal and regional international organizations, primarily the UN and the CIS.
Lavrov and Mammadyarov signed a Plan of Consultations between the MFA of Russia and the MFA of Azerbaijan for the second half of 2011-2012.
Elmar Mammadyarov had a meeting with the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation and the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus Federal District, Alexander Khloponin. In the context of the decisions of the thirteenth meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation top priorities in raising the effectiveness of interaction between our two countries in the trade and economic sphere were considered. The sides also discussed prospects for developing interregional cooperation between the subjects of the Russian Federation that are part of the North Caucasus Federal District and Azerbaijan.
At the meeting of Mammadyarov with Deputy Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Svetlana Orlova, the two discussed the role of Russian-Azerbaijani inter-parliamentary cooperation in the development of bilateral relations.
July 18, 2011
