Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russian Federation who paid a working visit to Azerbaijan. The Ministers had a tete-a-tete meeting and continued the discussions with the participation of delegations.

The sides noted that the high level political dialogue of the leaders of both countries and their political gives a serious impetus to the comprehensive development of strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Russia.

Touching upon the importance of the high-level mutual visits in carrying forward of cooperation, the Ministers exchanged their views on the agenda of bilateral and multilateral relations and the settlement process of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

The sides emphasized the political significance of Baku Declaration on friendship and strategic partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation signed on July 3, 2008 based on the principles of mutual respect in bilateral relations between the two countries.

Noting the activity of the interparliamentary commission since 2003, the sides expressed the satisfaction with sustainable cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries. They stressed the importance of Vienna and Sankt-Petersburg meetings in settlement process of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and in this regard noted the substantive negotiations.

The Ministers noticed the significant role of “Intergovernmental Commission on the economic issues between Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation”, working groups on the issues of the agriculture and energy in the development of economic relations between the two countries. They stressed the substantial contribution of Azerbaijan-Russia Interregional Forum since 2011 in growing of economic and trade relations between our countries.

Expressing the satisfaction with the volume of trade turnover between the two countries, the sides underlined that the further speed up of the path of bilateral trade relations is one of the most important issues on the agenda.

They stressed the opportunities for the further development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia in the fields of petroleum engineering, petroleum chemistry, metallurgy, mining, aerospace industry, automotive industry and agricultural engineering, transportation and heavy industry, pharmacology, tourism and others.

Emphasizing the importance of North-South transport corridor for the large-scale transit, the Ministers mentioned the trilateral cooperation of Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia in this field.

Moreover, the sides touched upon mutual understanding and cooperation on the Caspian issue, as well as stressed that Azerbaijan and Russian along with other littoral states are making efforts towards making the Caspian Sea the arena of friendship and cooperation.

Noting the special importance of the humanitarian dimension, the Ministers also mentioned the role of Azerbaijan-Russia humanitarian forum, Baku Humanitarian Forum, as well as the common projects on the development of educational, scientific and cultural cooperation, opening of the branches of higher education institutions of Russia Federation in Azerbaijan and opening of the branch of Azerbaijan State Economic University in Dagestan.

The Ministers stressed the regular tours of Russian cultural and art figures to Baku and in that sense mentioned successful “Жара” music festival which has become an important event in the cultural life of Baku.

The sides also exchanged their views on other issues of mutual interest.