POLITICS
MEETING AT MILLI MAJLIS
Warmly greeting the guests, Mr. Murtuz Alasgarov noted that Azerbaijan attached great importance to development of relations with neighboring Russia. Due to farsighted policy by Heydar Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, he said, Azerbaijan-Russia relationship has been brought up to the level of strategic partnership. According to the Milli Majlis Speaker, over 300 Russian businessmen, who founded joint ventures and other companies in Azerbaijan, are now operating here.
Mr. Alasgarov also updated in detail the members of the Russian delegation on the problems existing in the Southern Caucasus including that of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenian over Nagorno-Karabakh. He expressed fair position of Azerbaijan in settlement of the problem drawing the guests’ attention to Russia’s being OSCE Minsk group co-Chair and its role in the conflicts’ resolution. The Speaker also expressed confidence that Russia will intensify its efforts to urgent and fair resolution of the problem.
Having thanked for the warm meeting, Mr. Boris Gryzlov said that Russia is also interested in development of relations between the two countries and that the goal of this visit was to intensify the cooperation in all spheres. According to him, trade and economic links between Azerbaijan and Russia have not yet reached a due level. “Though, commodity turnover exceeded 500 million dollars last year, we would like to double the figure at the least,” he said. Russian State Duma Chairman announced that a sitting of interparliamentary working group would be held in April in Moscow, and that of intergovernmental commission a little later in Baku to negotiate development of economic and trade links, and creation of firm legal basis.
During the meeting, the parties also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.