BAKU: Russia and Azerbaijan are successfully developing bilateral economic cooperation, but it still has serious untapped potential. Currently, trade turnover is more than 4 billion dollars a year, and this is not the limit, Vladimir Putin said on Monday during talks with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev in Baku.
Among the promising areas for joint work, the Russian leader noted the energy sector, transport, logistics and light industry. The sphere of direct investment in joint production projects is successfully developing.
“More than four billion dollars of direct investment in the Azerbaijani economy is also a good indicator. More than 1,270 enterprises work with Russian capital in Azerbaijan. And this, of course, is not the limit. As for humanitarian ties, we attach great importance to them and are grateful to you for the attention you pay to the development of the Russian language. 300 schools with the Russian language, branches of our leading higher educational institutions operate in Azerbaijan. Thousands of young people from Azerbaijan study at leading universities in the Russian Federation. And we are ready to expand this cooperation," Putin said.
"I would like to note that we are very satisfied with the level of cooperation between our countries. The declaration on allied cooperation that we signed in February 2022 is being successfully implemented - both in the political and economic spheres. We see very positive dynamics, good figures. And of course, we cooperate in energy and transport. We pay special attention to humanitarian cooperation. And in many other areas," Aliyev noted in turn.
"This is natural, because Russia and Azerbaijan are important economic partners for each other," the Russian leader concluded. As the Russian President pointed out, Russian companies feel comfortable in the Azerbaijani market. In particular these companies are: Lukoil oil company, Kamaz truck maker, which established an assembly plant, Sollers, UAZ. Putin also recalled that Transmashholding signed a contract in February to produce a large batch of Russian carriages for the Baku metro.
"I hope that those who use them will be satisfied with these trains," he said. The Russian leader added that the United Shipbuilding Corporation, together with the Baku Shipyard, is starting to produce modern river-sea tankers for the transportation of oil products.
"There are development prospects, we are grateful to the Azerbaijani authorities for the conditions created for their operation Putin said.
On Russian President's visit to Azerbaijan
Putin is on a state visit in Baku on August 18-19. This is his eighth visit to Azerbaijan as the President of the Russian Federation. His first official visit took place on January 9-10, 2001. On September 27, 2018, Putin visited the country for the seventh time. He attended the World Judo Championships and spoke at the plenary session of the 9th Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum.
A special topic at the talks was the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Transcaucasus, in the eastern part of the Armenian Highlands. As the Russian leader noted, Azerbaijan is aimed at resolving the situation in Karabakh. Russia is ready to mediate in the negotiations between Baku and Yerevan and facilitate the signing of a peace treaty and the final determination of the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
During the talks, as Putin said, special attention was paid to issues of strengthening mutually beneficial trade cooperation. “This is logical, since Russia and Azerbaijan are important economic partners for each other,” the head of the Russian state emphasized
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