Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev received Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss development of bilateral relations on June 18.

During the meeting, President Aliyev said Azerbaijani-Russian bilateral relations are successfully and rapidly developing, expressing confidence that the visit of the Russian foreign minister would contribute to the strengthening of the ties between the two countries.

The head of the state stressed that the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are strategic, adding that the two countries are successfully cooperating in all areas.

Aliyev also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Azerbaijan last year gave impetus to the development of the two countries' relations, saying the discussions and the exchange of views during the visit were very fruitful in terms of further development of the cooperation. Azerbaijan's president said the two countries are also fruitfully cooperating at the level of parliaments and ministries.

"We have also successful cooperation in humanitarian and other fields," he added, expressing confidence that the two countries would spare no efforts to develop bilateral relations for the prosperity of two nations.

Foreign Minister Lavrov, in turn, conveyed greetings of President Putin to President Aliyev. He said Russian head of state recalled with satisfaction his last year's visit to Azerbaijan and the meetings held during the trip.

Lavrov said he shared President Ilham Aliyev's views that Azerbaijan-Russia relations are strategic in nature, and that the cooperation is successfully continuing in economic, investment, humanitarian and other fields. He also recalled the signing of a humanitarian cooperation program during Putin's official visit to Azerbaijan.

Noting that Azerbaijan and Russia are successfully cooperating at regional and international levels, he said that this was discussed at a meeting of two sides' foreign ministers, held earlier.

Lavrov said the meeting exchanged views on the upcoming summit of the Caspian littoral countries, as well as the last year's meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Russian foreign minister said they also discussed common issues faced by the two countries in the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, which is currently chaired by Azerbaijan.

President Aliyev once again thanked the Russian side for backing Azerbaijan's membership bid in the elections to the UN Security Council, expressing his satisfaction with active cooperation between the two countries during Azerbaijan's presidency terms in the organization.

The head of the state emphasized the importance of Azerbaijan's presidency of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in terms of promoting the country's position and priorities in Europe. He also expressed confidence that Azerbaijan's presidency of the council would mark close cooperation between the two countries.

President Aliyev then expressed his gratitude for the greetings of President Putin and asked Sergey Lavrov to convey his greetings to the Russian leader.

Earlier, Lavrov met his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov to discuss prospects for development of relations, as well as regional issues and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.