Moscow, January 12, AZERTAC

A bilateral meeting has been held between President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

According to AZERTAC, welcoming President Ilham Aliyev, President Vladimir Putin said:

- Dear Ilham Heydar oglu, let me once again welcome you to Moscow. I want to thank you again for accepting the offer and coming to the capital of Russia.

Of course, the most important event of the past year was the difficult situation and the way it unfolded in Nagorno-Karabakh. But I want to express my satisfaction with the fact that we have managed to end the hostilities and bloodshed. As we have just spoken about the results of today's work, the peacekeeping mission is fulfilling its functions and the situation as a whole is gradually returning to normal. And the fact that we have signed a joint statement, which is based on the desire to resolve the situation in the long term, I believe is extremely important.

But outside the context of the events related to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, we also have a bilateral agenda. In this regard, I would like to note again and express my gratitude for the joint work, which is related to the way we celebrated the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. It was a very colorful event for all our countries, for all post-Soviet countries, because we all took part in the struggle for freedom and independence of our common homeland at that time.

The relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are developing very successfully today. This applies primarily to the economic component. We have many areas of joint work and many overlapping interests in this area - in the area of economy.

I very much hope that the work to resolve the situation in the South Caucasus in general will also benefit our bilateral relations of course, as I have just said. I proceed from the fact that this settlement will allow us the opportunity to build our relations on an even more close and systematic basis not only in the economy but also in the humanitarian sphere.

Thank you very much again for being in Moscow today.

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President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Thank you, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich.

It is always a pleasure to be in the capital of Russia, and I would like to express my gratitude to you again for the invitation and for the initiative to hold a trilateral meeting. It turned out to be very useful and, I think, fruitful, because at the end of the meeting we signed a statement.

This is the second statement signed in the two months since the war ended. It essentially draws a line under what happened last year. The statement is aimed at creating a completely new situation in our region and unblocking transport communications. It is of great importance for us, because after more than 30 years Azerbaijan will have transport communication with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of the Republic of Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia. Armenia will have a railway communication with Russia and Iran through the territory of Azerbaijan. We will also have access to the Turkish market through the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and Turkish and Russian railway arteries will also be connected. In other words, this statement opens up great prospects.

I am sure that the working group that we have established today will work effectively and regularly report on the implementation of projects to us. There is not one project - there are several ones. I am sure that all of them will be implemented.

I would like to express my gratitude to you again for your personal involvement in the cessation of hostilities and signing the Statement of 9 November. I believe that you, as the leader of Russia, as a neighbor of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, have once again demonstrated your resolve, determination and wisdom. And today's meeting held on your initiative shows again how much attention you are paying to this issue. Of course, this makes us very happy, because the positive development of the situation in the entire region will largely depend on the settlement of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which has already been consigned to history. Completely new prospects are opening up that we, perhaps, could not even imagine before.

With regard to bilateral relations, despite a difficult year associated with the pandemic, we did not experience a significant decline in trade. I am sure that we will make up for it all this year. And there is a very large and extensive agenda, including in the economic sphere. In the political sphere, Azerbaijan and Russia have long been strategic partners, and Russia's active participation in ending the war, as well as in the peacekeeping mission, speaks precisely of the fact that these are relations of strategic partnership, long-term relations which have very good dynamics.

You have mentioned the humanitarian cooperation between our countries. It has always been distinguished by great sincerity, efficiency and focus on specific results. In all other areas, too, we are committed to very effective cooperation this year and beyond.

The situation that evolved between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the years has been finally resolved. I am sure that there will be no attempts by the Armenian side to revise the Statement of 9 November, so that both peoples find the will and wisdom to think about the future and about reconciliation.

Thank you again for the invitation and for this initiative.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.