AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Feb 2 2005
MEETING OF FOREIGN MINISTER OF AZERBAIJAN AND RUSSIA
[February 02, 2005, 17:44:35]
On February 2, Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Azerbaijan, met with his Russian counterpart Sergey
Lavrov, who paid an official visit to Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, welcoming his Russian colleague,
emphasized the relations of friendship and cooperation between the
two nations. He also stressed close and cordial personal relations
between the two heads of state.
Foreign Minister Lavrov agreed with this statement and expressed his
hope that the ties between Russia and Azerbaijan will continue to
develop comprehensively.
The two sides exchanged views on certain aspects of bilateral
relations, such as further increasing trade volume, intensifying
partnerships between regions of the two countries, developing
cultural cooperation, etc. In this regard, the Ministers broadly
discussed plan of actions for the upcoming `Year of Azerbaijan in
Russia’, as well as the perspective for 2006 to be the `Year of
Russia in Azerbaijan’.
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke about
various aspects of cooperation on the Caspian matters, where both
sides re-affirmed their commitment to resolving remaining issues
among the five littoral states in the spirit of constructive
cooperation based on the principle of medium line.
Other issues of mutual interest discussed by the sides included
reform on the UN, future perspectives of OSCE and CIS activity.
Special attention was paid to the ways of settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially to the
activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, of which Russia is a co-chair.
After the meeting, Elmar Mammadyarov and Sergey Lavrov briefed for
media representatives and answered their questions.