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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev: Mr Putin, dear guests,

Once again I would like to welcome you warmly to Azerbaijan. Welcome! We attach great importance to your visit.

During today’s talks we already exchanged opinions on a wide range of topics that hold mutual interest. The agenda of our relations is extensive. Indeed, our cooperation is multifaceted, diversified, and covers virtually all areas: the economy, culture and education, transport, and regional security issues. And we have very similar positions on all of the above. Of course, we will once again have the opportunity to discuss important issues for our bilateral relations and regional policy.

I am very glad that you are accompanied by a large and representative delegation. Its composition bears witness to the fields to which we attach great importance.

I am confident that your visit will contribute to further developing friendly relations between our two countries in all areas, and bring our countries and peoples even closer together.

Once again, welcome.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Mr Aliyev, thank you for your invitation and for the attention you always pay to developing Russian-Azerbaijani relations.

I will allow myself to say a few words about what is probably the most important aspect of our cooperation, namely its humanitarian component. We gave this due consideration when talking one-on-one. I would like to note once again that Azerbaijan has been very concerned with developing Russian language, as well as preserving education and joint work in this area; schools teach in Russian and branches of Russian universities are active there. This is extremely important because it constitutes the foundation for our work in all other directions, and the other areas where our relations really are on the rise.

We have already stated that despite the global economy’s problems our trade is growing. Last year it increased by 47 and some percent, almost 50 percent, which is a very good indicator of our cooperation’s potential.

Indeed, the Russian delegation features many ministers and representatives of our key, leading ministries and departments. I expect that today during talks in an expanded format we will exchange views on what we need to do in order to intensify our cooperation. And I’m sure this will be useful, future-oriented work.

Thank you very much.

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