Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev: Dear Dmitry Anatolyevich! Distinguished guests!

I would like to welcome you again to Azerbaijan. Welcome! We very much appreciate the fact that you have come on an official visit to Azerbaijan just a short time after taking office. This reflects the character and spirit of our relations. This visit will further strengthen relations between our countries.

Today we discussed a wide range of issues in our bilateral, regional and international relations, and it is with very great satisfaction that I would like to emphasise that the outcome of our talks is very positive. The relations between our countries are based on tradition, on history. They are friendly, neighbourly and strategic, characteristics which fully conform to the interests of Azerbaijan and, I am sure, the interests of Russia as well.

I am also confident that the visit will prove very successful, and that everything we discussed and will sign today will be executed. As such the level of relations between our countries will reach a new level. These relations will continue to be characterized as those between partners, strategic and friendly, which fully conforms to the national interests of Azerbaijan.

I hope that this visit (you have already visited Azerbaijan but this is the first time you are here as president) — I am confident that the results of this visit will be positive and will also act as a good opportunity to get acquainted once again with our country and our city.

Welcome!

President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Azerbaijan is our strategic partner in the Caucasus and I absolutely agree that the centuries-old history, special character of our current partnership, and very strong economic ties are what characterizes our relationship. This actually helps us deal with many different issues.

In this regard I would like to note that we are very close to achieving the goal we recently set for ourselves – to reach a volume of trade of two billion dollars. Already over the past four months our trade has increased by 50 per cent. This means that our potential is very good. I should also point out that this is not only energy but also includes intellectual products, a fundamental consideration when measuring our countries’ prospects.

We consider this visit to be extremely important. I believe the topics we discussed today are very important, complex and serious questions. This is a very promising sphere of our interaction and cooperation in trade, economic, cultural and educational spheres. I hope that our colleagues did not waste time either. As a result we are going to sign new documents which reflect our current high level of cooperation and a Joint Declaration, which makes reference to the friendship between our countries and peoples.

Thank you for your invitation to visit Azerbaijan!

And let us continue to work. Thank you.