Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov is on a working visit to Moscow for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Speaking at the meeting on March 6, Mammadyarov said that he agrees with the assessment of development of friendship relations and strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Russian Federation.

During 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations Azerbaijan and Russia have not undergone major upheavals, the minister noted.

Azerbaijan loves and respects the Russian language, there are a lot of Russian-language schools and universities in Azerbaijan. At the same time, Russian universities open their branches in the country, he added.

Today, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia is growing, but it is necessary to work even more to increase the trade turnover between the two countries.

“We actually did a good job to increase trade turnover between our countries. Probably, it is necessary to admit that you need to make much more efforts to increase trade for several times," Mammadyarov said at the meeting.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia in 2016 amounted to $2.05 billion, which is 10.5 percent higher than the year before, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.

Russia is one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan, ranking second in commodity turnover, the first - in the import of products and the eighth - in exports. About 31 percent of Azerbaijan's non-oil exports fall on Russia, which is the first among Azerbaijan's trade partners in this indicator.

Mammadyarov also said the FMs will sign a plan for cooperation and consultations for 2017.

In turn, Lavrov said that Azerbaijan is an important strategic partner of Russia, and the positions of the two countries coincide on the majority of key issues.

“The talks with my colleague and friend, Mammadyarov, were constructive, we discussed the schedule of the upcoming meetings, including those at the highest level, and we reviewed the situation in the economic sphere,” Lavrov noted.

He went further saying that regular meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, as well as other government officials of the two countries play a decisive role in development of strategic partnership.

“Interparliamentary ties are developing intensively and cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Russian foreign ministries is to ensure a harmonious development of relations in all spheres,” Lavrov said.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Lavrov went on to say that Russia will further work to find acceptable solutions to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

A number of key issues in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement still remain unresolved, he said adding that most issues can be quickly agreed on but the key points still remain unresolved and the sides are currently not yet close to resolving them.

The conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Mammadyarov, in turn, said the main issue in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the presence of political will to resolve it, stressing that for Azerbaijan, returning the occupied lands is of national interest.

“Easing tension is very important for us. It should be understood that when there are negotiations, guns are silent,” Mammadyarov said, stressing the necessity for a progress in the negotiation process.

He also noted that Baku insists on substantive negotiations on the matter.

Azerbaijani FM said Russia is making serious efforts for settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He noted that everything depends not only on Azerbaijan or on mediators, but also on Armenia, which has to start moving towards a solution.

Caspian Sea status

Speaking about the legal status of the Caspian Sea, remaining unsolved during the past two decades, Mammadyarov said that there are good preconditions for moving forward in this issue.

"Three of the five Caspian states have a common position on the status of the Caspian Sea.

Lavrov, for his part, said he and Mammadyarov widely discussed the Caspian Sea status.

“We hope it will be possible to complete the work regarding the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the forthcoming meeting of the Caspian states’ foreign ministers and to prepare a number of other documents for presidents, who plan to hold the next Caspian Summit in Kazakhstan,” added Russian FM.

The Caspian littoral states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran – signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003. Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use in July 1998. The two countries signed a protocol to the agreement in May 2002.

As part of the visit Mammadyarov also attended an exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan in the Foreign Ministry of Russia.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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