Leonid Slutsky: Russia's State Duma is reliable partner of Azerbaijan's Milli Majlis

Deputies of the Russian State Duma are reliable partners of Azerbaijani parliamentarians, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, said today after visiting the exhibition marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Azerbaijan that opened at the Russian State Duma today, the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza reports.

First of all, he noted that in recent years the Russian deputies have actively interacted with their colleagues from Azerbaijan's Milli Majlis. "The State Duma's close relations with the Milli Majlis continue to this day. We discuss the most topical issues of the bilateral and international agenda in the format of joint meetings of the relevant committees at international parliamentary platforms and in many other formats," he said.

"Serious problems inherited from the 90s and earlier times have been overcome in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan became an energy-independent state, carried out a successful program to combat poverty. Under the leadership of Ilham Aliyev the republic successfully follows the path laid by his father, the founder of the modern Azerbaijani state, Heydar Aliyev. Of course, today we must note that Azerbaijan, fulfilling Heydar Aliyev's covenants, has become one of the most prosperous economies far beyond the post-Soviet space," Leonid Slutsky stressed.

"Azerbaijan approaches the presidential elections on April 11 with an extremely developed parliamentary system. The Milli Majlis today is an institution that determines very much in Azerbaijani society," the chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs said.

He also described Baku as one of the world's humanitarian capitals. "This can be confirmed by Mikhail Gusman, one of the founders of the Baku Humanitarian Forum. Baku held the First European Olympic Games. Azerbaijan is the source of a number of global initiatives that are successfully implemented, many of them are implemented by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and may - with the personal coordination of First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva," Leonid Slutsky concluded.