ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 13, 2004 Friday 9:49 AM Eastern Time

Russia, Azerbaijan to discuss fight against terrorism

By Elvara Bakhshiyeva

MOSCOW

The fight against terrorism will be a key item on the agenda of talks
between the Russian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, Sergei Lavrov
and Elmar Mamedyarov.

The Azerbaijani foreign ministers will make an official visit to
Moscow on August 17-19.

“Azerbaijan is Russia’s strategic partner in southern Caucasus,” a
Russian foreign policy expert told Itar-Tass, “our countries have the
same positions regarding the necessity to step up the fight against
international terrorism.”

The parties will pay special attention to the implementation of the
accords reached at the top level in the economic sphere, such as the
doubling of trade turnover and the development of the fuel and energy
sector, he added.

Lavrov and Mamedyarov are expected to discuss problems of working out
the legal status of the Caspian Sea and prospects of holding the
second Caspian summit.

Moscow welcomes the efforts to continue the Azerbaijani-Armenian
dialogue over the Nagorny Karabakh problem, and is ready to provide
an active contribution in the search for a mutually acceptable
settlement of the conflict, the expert said.