“Russia-Azerbaijan demonstrate stable willingness to further develop relations and increase the mutual activity potential,” said head of the “Caspian Expert Club” Gulnara Mammadzade at the round table entitled “Russia-Azerbaijan: the Outcomes of 2019” held at the International Multimedia Press Center of the “Russia Today” International Information Agency in Moscow.

The expert noted that in the past 2 years, the number of visits at the level of political administration has reached a record and the relations between the two countries have reached the culmination: “I would like to highlight the remarkable visits, as well as the meeting between the Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents within the framework of the “Valdai” Forum. First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva’s recent visit to Moscow, the held meetings and events show the nature and priorities of our cooperation. First of all, we emphasize the stability of political dialogue between Russia and Azerbaijan. The economic and humanitarian issues bloc is important for us. The program and agenda of the X Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum prove it. Russia and Azerbaijan are participants of significant geopolitical alliances, including the alliances with Turkey and Iran. We can talk about a number of serious transnational projects, including the “North-South” International Transport Corridor”. The expert recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the contribution of both countries to the building of Eurasia’s energy structure: “It proves that the relations between Russia-Azerbaijan have gone beyond the bilateral format and develop at an international level”.

Director of the Post-Soviet Zone Research Center of the International Research Institute of Moscow State International Relations Institute Stanislav Chernyavsky spoke about the events of the 2000s: “At that time, we were waiting for the first official state visit of Vladimir Putin to Azerbaijan. I remember how excited we were while preparing the documents. The “painful points”, disagreements between our countries were on the separate black list. Today, I see that that list no longer exists”. The expert shared his impressions about the Interregional Forum held with the participation of Azerbaijan’s First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. He stressed that Azerbaijan is the strategic partner of Russia in the South Caucasus. Stanislav Chernyavsky highlighted the role of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the creation of the cooperation format such as Turkey-Russia-Azerbaijan and Iran-Russia-Azerbaijan: “Definitely, the Caspian mechanism of five, that has been formed throughout years, has reached great success. We know that the meetings of the Caspian Five have led to reaching an agreement on the status of the Caspian Sea. From the foreign policy point of view, today, Azerbaijan is not only the regional leader, but also a significant country at a global level”.  

Emphasizing the importance of the economic cooperation between the two countries, political scientist Farhad Ibrahimov drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan is Russia’s main trade partner among the CIS countries, and it also indicates Russia’s priorities in the region. The political scientist said that Russia’s big companies successfully operate in Azerbaijan.