BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 21. The fifth meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani Expert Council is underway in Baku, TurkicWorld reports.
The Head of the Board of Azerbaijan's Center for Analysis of International Relations Farid Shafiyev said during the opening of the session that this negotiation platform was established in 2021 and has held meetings both in Moscow and Baku.
"Our cooperation with Russia is not only bilateral. Today's event theme - cooperation within multilateral projects and initiatives - is not accidental. We will address issues of regional security as well as a number of logistical and transport issues," Shafiyev also said.
He pointed out that the event has gathered leading experts from both countries, and it makes sense to more frequently provide their expert assessments on various events through the media.
Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration, Hikmet Hajiyev, said that the current relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are at the top level, as evidenced by the Declaration on Allied Cooperation signed in February 2022.
"Common culture, history, and mutual respect have contributed to their development," he pointed out.
According to Hajiyev, in addition to bilateral relations in all spheres of life, interregional cooperation is also expanding.
"Azerbaijan maintains relations with more than 70 subjects of Russia and operates more than 10 agreements on trade, economic, scientific-technical, and cultural ties between Russian regions and Azerbaijani partners," the official emphasized.
He mentioned a strong demand for transport arteries around the world.
"Azerbaijan is involved in various Eurasian transport initiatives. Work is underway to expand the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC). Azerbaijan continues to actively invest in the development of this logistics structure, expanding the capacity of the Azerbaijani part of the corridor. Undoubtedly, this will benefit not only Azerbaijan and Russia but the entire region," Hajiyev also said.
Ambassador-at-Large of Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, Elshad Iskandarov, said that Azerbaijani-Russian relations showcase positive dynamics.
He mentioned that one of the vectors of joint regional efforts between both states is the common approach to ensuring regional political and economic cooperation and limiting attempts at destructive external interference.
"Transparently, Azerbaijan and Russia both opt for sovereignty when it comes to decision-making," emphasized Iskandarov.
According to him, hosting the Baku event is a prime example of putting actions behind words to bolster Russian-Azerbaijani relations.
"When the idea of creating an expert council was first brought to the table three years ago, we were confident that this initiative would yield practical results. It is gratifying to see that in a short period, the platform is already holding its fifth meeting of our experts," added the diplomat.
The head of the Presidential Department for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, Igor Maslov, said that creating the Russian-Azerbaijani expert council was a right decision, and it has expanded its focus from bilateral to regional and global challenges.
"Constant change brings with it fresh possibilities and dangers; the future of nations, regions, and the entire planet hinges on our ability to objectively assess trends and make sound decisions," Maslov emphasized.
According to him, after the collapse of the bipolar world system, attempts to square peg round-hole international security institutions and the international security system to the new conditions were largely unsuccessful.
Particularly, as Maslov noted, the NATO bloc once tried to become a peace bloc, but "then there was Yugoslavia and other conflicts.
"Now we see that the level of conflict between different countries, cultures, and peoples is so high that we should hardly expect a return to the old times. This is not only since there is the good or bad will of some political leaders; these are objective processes," he noted.
