Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on measures to ensure the parallel operation of the Unified Energy System of Russia and the energy system of Azerbaijan on June 6 in Russia's Volgograd city during the fourth joint interregional dialogue-2013, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

The interregional dialogue was held in Volgograd on June 5-6. The aim of the event was to review the state of economic, scientific, technical and humanitarian relations between the regions of Russia and Azerbaijan, as well as find ways of expanding the cooperation.

The document was signed by Azerbaijan's Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev and Russia's Deputy Energy Minister Anton Inyutsin.

"We have reached a new level of reliability and efficiency of our energy systems. The agreement will allow drawing up common policies for modernization and development of energy systems," Inyutsin told reporters after the signing ceremony.

Aliyev, in turn, said that Azerbaijan and Russia have huge export potential in the energy sector, citing the "exceptional importance" of the document.

"We committed to help each other as regards the reliability of the technical exploitation of our power grids and to provide mutual assistance in emergencies," the minister said.

According to Aliyev, Azerbaijan has improved and modernized its energy system. All the technical problems have been solved and the agreement signed within the forum has great importance for the energy sectors of Azerbaijan and Russia.

Presidential Administration's head of social and political affairs Ali Hasanov, who headed the Azerbaijani delegation, said that this agreement is a very important document. He said it will play an important role in the simultaneous progress of the energy systems in the Caspian and Black Sea basins and in joint activity.

Another document was signed by Governor of the Volgograd Region Sergey Bozhenov and Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev on economic, scientific and cultural cooperation between the Volgograd region and Azerbaijan.

Ali Hasanov commented that Azerbaijan earlier signed such agreements with other subjects of the Russian Federation.

"As is known, Russia is a big country and its regions have large economic, political, social and cultural potential. There are numerous Azerbaijani diasporas in these regions. The Azerbaijani government is interested in the economic and social potential of these regions. From this point of view, the agreement signed between the governments of Azerbaijan and Volgograd completely corresponds to our activity in the sphere of the relations with Russian regions, the interests of Russian and Azerbaijani regions," Hasanov said.

It was also noted that Russia and Azerbaijan have achieved significant progress in the use of the potential of trade relations in industry and agriculture.

A constructive exchange of views on bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy and transport communications, humanitarian assistance and youth policy took place during roundtables held within the forum.

The forum participants adopted a final declaration saying that the ongoing development of inter-regional cooperation meets the interests of the Russian and Azerbaijani peoples and serves to strengthen the trust and rapprochement between the two nations. A decision was passed to hold the next Russian-Azerbaijani forum in 2014 in Azerbaijan.

Another solemn ceremony held in the framework of the fourth Russia-Azerbaijan interregional dialogue-2013 was a groundbreaking ceremony of an Azerbaijan-Russia friendship park which took place on June 5 in Volgograd.