Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev: Mr President, guests,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Azerbaijan. We were looking forward to your visit and we hope that, though it is only a brief visit, it will be productive.

We have met several times over the last year, and this underscores our relations’ dynamism. We recalled today that you came to Azerbaijan on an official visit exactly one year ago, and we signed then the Declaration on Friendship and Strategic Partnership that is being implemented successfully now. A year later, we are very pleased to see you here in Baku again and have this chance to discuss important aspects of our bilateral relations and regional matters, as always, in a spirit of friendship, understanding and mutual respect.

We are always happy to see you. Once again, welcome.

President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you very much, Mr President. It is also a great pleasure for me to come to Azerbaijan today. We have a busy work schedule. We met just recently in St Petersburg, and not so long before that you made a visit to Russia. Now I have come here on this working visit. It is, as you say, just a brief visit, but we will cover a lot of ground and have drawn up a substantial agenda. We will sign a number of agreements – the result of the work we have carried out. This reflects, of course, the strategic nature of the relations between our countries and peoples – the longstanding ties that we have as good friends and neighbours. We are ready to do everything necessary to continue developing these relations.

I hope that today’s meeting will lead to new forms of cooperation between us, and that it will give us the chance to discuss the economy, which is very important. We will also discuss politics, of course, including foreign affairs.

Thank you.

<…>