Esteemed colleagues!

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen!

I would like to say a few words concerning the visit by our honorable guest, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Heydarovich Aliyev.

First of all I would like to welcome you once again and express our gratitude given that our consultations are taking place in a very hectic period for Azerbaijan as the country is preparing for the presidential elections. We praise the fact Ilham Heydarovich has found the time to come to Moscow to discuss the current situation, our bilateral relations and international problems.

Of course, we have talked about development of Russia-Azerbaijan relations - economic, social, humanitarian ones, and also discussed international questions I mean the recent crisis in Caucasus. I have informed in detail Ilham Heydarovich about what Russia had done to ensure security in the South Caucasus, and I believe our active collaboration is one of the key factors in guaranteeing security and stability in the region.

During our talks we have also touched upon our business cooperation, issues which are extremely topical today. Our trade is increasingly growing. We have started our discussions from stressing this fact which in turn demonstrates that our relations have reached a level of strategic partnership. This is good for Russia, this is good for Azerbaijan and this is good for our peoples. The fact that for the last seven months our trade has grown a half, 56 percent, shows that there is a growth potential, and we are going to place a particular emphasis on this. And it is pleasant that the structure of the turnover is also getting better, the President of Azerbaijan has already mentioned this. I completely agree with that as this is very important in terms of developing our economies.

Another question we have discussed is humanitarian relations, and we have successes here as well.

We express our gratitude to Azerbaijan`s leadership, the President, for their efforts towards preserving Russian language, culture and education in the country. We have discussed the opening of a branch of the Moscow state university in Baku, other projects, school education as well as humanitarian relations in general. I consider this our heritage that we, as presidents, must always preserve and attach great importance to.

Of course, we have also touched upon the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Once again I would like to reiterate in this hall just what I have told the President of Azerbaijan - we support continuation of direct negotiations between presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Russia`s stance on this issue remains unchanged. We will continue making every effort to help find a mutually acceptable solution to this complex dispute. I believe we can expect continuation of the dialogue on this issue in the nearest future.

Once again I would like to thank my colleague Ilham Heydarovich Aliyev for making this visit as well as for constructive and friendly talks. I believe the fact we meet so regularly serves our peoples and states, and, of course, contributes to security and stability in our region. Our talks have been constructive and interesting, and, surely, we will continue discussions in the nearest future.

Thank you.