Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Vladimir Putin of Russia attended the opening ceremony of the Year of Russia in Azerbaijan at the Heydar Aliyev Palace in Baku on 21 February.

The Presidents made remarks at the ceremony.

The Russia’s leader said that the Year of Russia in Azerbaijan “promises not only to display Russia’s achievements but to give a fresh impetus to the equal and mutually beneficial cooperation between the historically close states and peoples.”

“The Year of Azerbaijan in Russia demonstrated how deeply the fates of our peoples are intertwined, how they eager for living in peace, and getting on with each other”, he said.

Vladimir Putin said that Russians and Azerbaijanis have been displaying mutual understanding and respect, inter-ethnic and inter-religious, and assimilation of moral values over epochs.

“We have achieved a lot in solving extensive economic tasks. Among them are the development of oil fields in the Caspian and Siberia,” he said.

The Russian President described the two people’s comradeship-in-arms during the Great Patriotic War as an unprecedented example of unity.

He said that the cooperation between Russians and Azerbaijanis, which withstood the test of time, unites the two peoples under new conditions too.

“One should not forget that our positive relationship is a factor of geopolitical stability in the region. We have to find and realize new, effective models of cooperation, and take fuller advantage of not only bilateral capabilities but also integration processes on the post-Soviet space,” President Putin said.

“We all are directly interested in safeguarding and strengthening of the unified humanitarian space, in development of cultural ties, youth exchanges and expanding our relations in the spheres of science and education,” he said.

For his part, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev expressed confidence that the Year of Russia in Azerbaijan would be successful. “Our countries and peoples will become closer; we will become even more familiar with each other, and cooperate more actively in various fields, and thereby will make Azerbaijan and Russia remain good neighbors, friends and partners. This is the matter of our interests” he said.

The Azerbaijani leader pointed to active interaction between the two countries in both regional and international issues. “We have been actively cooperating and support each other within various international organizations, and our bilateral cooperation has very solid foundation,” he said.

“We are interested in continuation of this active political dialogue. And as a result of these joint efforts, today we can talk about the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia as those of strategic partnership,” President Ilham Aliyev said.

Speaking of the economic cooperation between the two countries the Azerbaijani leader recalled his meeting with his Russian counterpart two years ago when they laid down the program of doubling the goods turnover. “It only took two years to have the turnover our countries doubled, and today it exceeds $1 billion,” he said.

President Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia in humanitarian sphere. “This cooperation is dictated by sincere need, not by an order, it is not a directive, which must be implemented, it is a normal state of our society,” he said.

The President added that the Russian culture and language are held in high respect and love in Azerbaijan. “Education in Russian language is now as widespread as it was in Soviet Union. Not a single school has been closed, and almost every state-owned higher educational institution of our country practice teaching in Russian. In other words, this is a fundamental and successive policy of the Azerbaijan state, it is also a social demand” he said.

President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon the matter of inter-ethnic and inter-religious tolerance in Azerbaijan. He said that Azerbaijan may serve as a good example of the country where representatives of various nationalities and religions have been living in peace and harmony. “This acquires a particular importance today, when we can see disturbing tendencies in the world,” he said.

In conclusion, President Ilham Aliyev thanked President Vladimir Putin counterpart and heads of Russia’s regions for attendance in the opening of the Year of Russia in Azerbaijan.

After that a gala concert of Russian artists was held.

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A photo exhibition “Azerbaijan: 100 years in ITAR-TASS Objective” was organized in the lobby of the Heydar Aliyev Palace. Almost 100 works by best photographers of this Russian news agency since the first oil boom in Azerbaijan in the beginning of the XX century until now were displayed at the exhibition. The exhibition was viewed by the First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, MP Ms. Mehriban Aliyeva. She was accompanied by the Director General of ITAR-TASS Vitaliy Ignatenko.

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The ceremony of opening the Year of Russia in Azerbaijan was attended by Chairman of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan Ogtay Asadov, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Chief of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, members of the Russian delegation, as well as members of the Milli Majlis, Ministers and heads of State Committees and companies.