Russian-Azerbaijani Trade Volume Has Exceeded More Than $4B, Putin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said the trade volume between his country and Azerbaijan has exceeded $4 billion.


"Our trade turnover is growing: it has already reached more than $4 billion. Russian investments in the Azerbaijani economy amount to $6 billion," Putin said during a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in the capital Moscow.

Expressing that relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are "at a high level and are developing," he said the intergovernmental commission is working actively and that there are "many interesting areas of cooperation in the real sector of the economy."

"Of course, we will also talk about the situation from the point of view of ensuring security in the region. There are a lot of questions here, they are very sensitive," Putin further said.


He also said that they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), noting the significant role of former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, who is incumbent President Ilham Aliyev's father, in the project's development.

"In fact, he was one of the organizers of this grandiose project, important for the entire Soviet Union. We not only know this, we remember it and are very grateful to him, we keep the memory of it," he added.


The BAM is a 4,324-kilometer (2,686-mile) railway line stretching from the town of Tayshet in the Irkutsk region to the Russian Far East.


For his part, Aliyev said that his country is very pleased with the development of relations with Russia, expressing that there is also a transport component in the agenda of their meeting.


"The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project, uniting our countries and our partners, is of global importance for the safety of cargo transportation and for stimulating trade relations between many countries," Aliyev said.

The INSTC is a 7,200-kilometer (4,500-mile) multi-mode network of ship, rail and road route between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.

Aliyev went on to say that regional security issues are constantly on the agenda of their meetings, indicating Russia is a "fundamental country" in terms of regional security in the South Caucasus and their broader region. -