ELNUR ASLANOV: "AZERBAIJAN-RUSSIA RELATIONS WILL REACH A NEW LEVEL AS A RESULT OF DMITRIY MEDVEDEV’S VISIT"

Azeri Press Agency
Azerbaijan
03 Jul 2008

Baku. Lachin Sultanova-APA. "Special political and economic relations
have recently been established between Azerbaijan and Russia.

In fact, tendencies of thaw in the relations have been noticeable
since 2000", said Elnur Aslanov, Chief of the Department of Political
Analysis and Information Maintenance of the President’s Office in
his interview with APA. He said the main factors impacted on the
relations were the historical ties between Azerbaijan and Russia. "At
the same time, the mutual relations base on the cultural aspects too
and create opportunities for the relations between the two peoples to
be warmer. Amother factor is that numerous Azerbaijanis are living
and working in Russia today". Elnur Aslanov said the trade turnover
between Azerbaijan and Russia had been increased in recent years and
reached one billion and 500 million USD. Russia takes the second place
after Turkey in the Azerbaijan’s foreign trade. "It cannot be forgotten
that Russia is the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country and contributes to
the solution to the Nagorno Karabakh problem. A strategic partnership
has been established between Azerbaijan and Russia in recent years. We
believe that the visit will create opportunity for the more intensive
development of the relations between the two countries". Elnur Aslanov
said he believed that the Azerbaijan-Russia relations would reach a
new level as a result of the visit.