STRATEGIC DIRECTION

The official visit of the First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva to Russia remains one of the most discussed topics. According to experts, it was an unprecedented event, which confirmed the high level of relations between the two neighbouring states. This was one of the rare cases when the second person of a neighbouring state is accepted at the level of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Putin personally awarded the Order of Friendship to Mehriban Aliyeva and noted the invaluable contribution she made to the development of bilateral relations, in particular in the humanitarian sphere. "We appreciate your hard work to maintain interstate relations at the high level at which they are today. The name of the order reflects the essence of your endeavours to ensure the development of contacts between Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation. Thank you very much for your work and friendship," Mr. Putin said.

As to bilateral cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, Mehriban Aliyeva has initiated the branches of the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Sechenov Moscow State Medical University in Baku. During the visit, she has repeatedly called the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia exemplary.

Humanitarian ties are not the only components of mutual cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia. As the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev noted during his meeting with Mehriban Aliyeva, the parties are interested in developing economic cooperation and have great potential for this.

An important point in the program of the visit was the holding of the 10th Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum at the Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre of the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh). The plenary meeting of the forum was held with the participation of Mehriban Aliyeva and Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia, Valentina Matviyenko. By the way, one of the main events of the visit was the opening of the famous pavilion of Azerbaijan at VDNKh after reconstruction, which the team of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has completed five years. Thanks to the Foundation and the Government of Moscow, the pavilion was recreated in its original form, as was in 1939.

The history of the development of Azerbaijani-Russian relations is rooted in the distant past. Russia and Azerbaijan are connected by both historical, cultural, political and economic ties. As early as the 7th-12th centuries, Russian and Azerbaijani merchants had trade relations, exchanged goods, and established contacts. In 1563, Ivan the Formidable allowed Azerbaijani merchants to live and trade in Moscow, Kazan, Astrakhan and other large cities of Russia, which was beneficial for both sides.

The history of Russia and Azerbaijan has been often intertwined, beneficially influencing the development of each other's cultural potential. Back in the days of Azerbaijani khanates, this geopolitical factor effectively influenced the development of the Azerbaijani economy.

The Soviet period should also be considered an important stage in Russian-Azerbaijani relations. In 1941, when the USSR entered the Second World War, Azerbaijani oilmen provided up to 80% of the country's demand for fuel. Eventually, to take control of the oil and gas region, Hitler set a goal to gain control of Baku. However, he failed to achieve this goal. The USSR won the war, and Azerbaijan played a significant role in the victory over fascist Germany. 128 natives of Azerbaijan became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

In 2007, the former Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Vasily Istratov said at the photo exhibition People Who Defeated the War dedicated to the 62nd anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War: "Without Azerbaijan’s natural resources, there would have been no victory in the Great Patriotic War."

With the collapse of the USSR in 1991, fifteen former Soviet republics gained independence, which opened up a qualitatively new, independent stage of existence in the history of Azerbaijan. Like any independent state, Azerbaijan builds its foreign policy and establishes bilateral relations, primarily with its neighbours. Close cooperation with the Russian Federation has been declared one of the strategic directions of Azerbaijan's foreign policy relations.

Bilateral relations between the modern Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation go back to more than a quarter century. The length of the land border between the two countries is 272.4 km. During this short period of history, relations between countries have passed a complex and long evolutionary path. According to news agency Interfax-Azerbaijan, at the end of 2018, trade turnover between Russia and Azerbaijan exceeded $2.55 billion. In ten months of 2019, mutual trade between the two countries approached last year's figure reaching $2.45 billion.

It is difficult to maintain trust in the changing structure of international relations. But the good-neighbourly relations between Russia and Azerbaijan remain static. The legal base of bilateral relations is the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Security concluded between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation on July 3, 1997.

Eventually, relations based on centuries-old traditions and mutual respect develop into a strategic partnership. Azerbaijan and Russia are not only close neighbours and good friends, but also important strategic partners supporting each other in the international arena. One of the results of this painstaking work is a stable and safe situation in the South Caucasus and the Caspian region. Stable and safe, as far as possible based on today's political realities. In 2018, the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian was signed, which is regarded as a great diplomatic success for all the littoral states.

Presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia attach particular importance to the history of friendship and partnership between Baku and Moscow. They target to achieve an effective and high-quality development of these relations in the future. Over the past decade, political dialogue between our countries has reached a very high level. Mehriban Aliyeva's eventful and long visit to Russia is a true confirmation of this fact.