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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, I am delighted to see you. Welcome.

I hope your stay in Moscow will be both productive and interesting: interesting because the game promises to be beautiful, and productive because very many of our colleagues from other countries have come here as well, so you will get an opportunity to talk with all of them and make new acquaintances too. You will also be able to discuss current issues with our CIS colleagues.

As for bilateral relations, we will discuss them in depth and at length during your visit to Russia on August 30. Until then, our colleagues will continue the preparations for your visit.

At this point, I can tell you that our relations are developing successfully. Our trade increased by 34.4 percent last year and by nearly 19 percent in the first quarter of this year. It is going at a really good pace, which we should keep up.

As for the political component, it is quite stable. Our parliaments maintain contact, just as our public organisations, and our humanitarian ties are developing as well.

I am very happy to see you. Welcome.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev: Thank you, Mr President.

First of all, I would like to confer my best wishes to you on the occasion of yesterday’s public holiday – Russia Day.

I would also like to congratulate you on the successful completion of the preparations for the World Cup – this is the main sporting event in the world. I am sure that the tournament will be a success, and all guests will be happy.

As for our relations, I would also like to say how satisfied I am with their development. I would like to thank you for the invitation to visit Russia in late August. But today there is also a good opportunity to exchange views on current matters concerning our agenda, which is quite extensive.

I think that our relations have been given a great boost due to our regular and permanent contacts. And we can clearly see the results, our political interaction stands at a very high level and we are reliable friends as well as partners, strategic partners.

As you so rightly pointed out, our economic dynamics look very positive not only this year but over the past few years too. There are also plans to expand economic cooperation.

We can see certain results when it comes to the North-South project, the growth of the flow of cargo from Russia through Azerbaijan is increasing, and this is also a positive result of our activities.

I believe that our relations are exemplary in all fields, in culture, in particular. So I am glad that we have good dynamics, good results and are optimistic about the future, about making our ties even stronger.

Thank you once again for the invitation.

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