Baku, June 13, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who attended the Opening Ceremony of the First European Games.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During the meeting, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:

- Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich.

I sincerely welcome you to Azerbaijan. Welcome to our country!

Yesterday Russia celebrated a national holiday. First of all, I would like to congratulate you and the Russian people on this holiday again and note that we in Azerbaijan very much appreciate the fact that on the day of the national holiday of Russia you are visiting our country. We see this as a manifestation of friendship and a high level of cooperation between our countries.

In fact, the relations between our countries are developing very positively and dynamically, and each year we raise it higher and higher. We meet quite regularly - in Moscow, in Baku, in other places. Our ministers are also in regular touch. There is an active dialogue on all fronts. Inter-parliamentary relations are strengthening. There are good results in the economic sphere as well. Despite the difficulties in the global economy, we are building up the potential for mutual cooperation in the economic sphere. The humanitarian sphere has always been, I would say, a model in our relationship, and we are multiplying our achievements.

In other words, our countries have established a level of relationship that allows us the opportunity to actively collaborate, expand cooperation and look to the future with optimism.

Once again, welcome to Azerbaijan!

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said:

- Thank you very much, Ilham Heydar oglu.

For my part, I would like to congratulate you on yesterday's opening of the First European Games. I must say that it was an impressive spectacle: very talented, beautiful and worthy of this major international sporting event. I must state that those who were involved in the preparation of this holiday have done a great job and it turned out very well.

I share your assessment of the level and nature of our bilateral relations. I want to indicate that despite all the economic turbulence, the trade between our countries is growing: I think that last year it grew by more than 12 per cent and in the first quarter of this year by a further 6 per cent. And this, in general, suggests that Azerbaijani entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the situation emerging on our markets, including the food market. I want to emphasize that this makes us very happy. More than that, if this cooperation expands further, it will be even better. We are interested in that.

We are applying a lot of effort to diversifying our relations, and there are all the prerequisites for that. We will talk about this today.

Thank you very much for the invitation.

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After the meeting, President Ilham Aliyev and President Vladimir Putin had a joint dinner.