Baku, December 25, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin.

Maxim Oreshkin extended greetings and best wishes of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to President Ilham Aliyev.

He congratulated the head of state on the occasion of his birthday and wished him success in his activity for the prosperity of the people of Azerbaijan.

The Russian minister noted that the ongoing development processes in Baku made a great impression on them.

President Ilham Aliyev asked the minister to extend his greetings and best wishes to President Vladimir Putin, recalling his phone conversation with the Russian head of state a day ago.

President Ilham Aliyev hailed the successful development of Azerbaijan-Russia bilateral relations in all areas, noting the importance of taking additional measures to further expand economic cooperation and increase trade. He praised growth in Azerbaijan's exports to Russia.

The head of state said that Maxim Oreshkin's visit creates good opportunity for considering the expansion of export and import opportunities of the two countries.

Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin hailed the fact that the export of agricultural products from Azerbaijan to Russia increased 60 per cent.

Saying that the Russian consumers have been purchasing quality agricultural products from Azerbaijan since the Soviet times, Maxim Oreshkin added that this growth was taken as the good news by the Russians. He noted that Russia decided to give 14 more Azerbaijani companies manufacturing agricultural products to enter the Russian markets.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed his gratitude for this.

The importance of the North-South transport corridor was emphasized at the meeting. The dynamic growth of trade relations between the two countries was underlined. The opportunities for cooperation in mutual investment, tourism and transit transportation areas were discussed.