Azerbaijan becomes promising partner of Russia, economists say

From the economic point of view, Russia sees Azerbaijan as a promising modern partner with significant potential for cooperation, the president of the Foundation for Economic Research, Mikhail Khazin, the scientific director of the Institute of Economics Academy of Sciences, Ruslan Grinberg, and a member of the State Duma Committee on Energy, Ivan Grachev, said in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza.

During the 98th anniversary of the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia (May 26th is Georgian Independence Day, May 28th is Republic Day in Azerbaijan, May 28th is Republic Day in Armenia) Vestnik Kavkaza published a series of the statements by Russian politicians, economists and cultural figures on the links between Russia and these countries. Today on the Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan we offer the third part of the conversation with the economists, devoted to Russian-Azerbaijani contacts.

Mikhail Khazin first of all drew attention to the increased interest of Russia in cooperation with Azerbaijan. "For 90 years Russia did not regulate relations with foreign countries, and they proceeded in a natural way, but now the situation has changed, and Azerbaijan is increasingly becoming a serious partner of the Russian Federation. In turn, the role of Azerbaijan in Russia increased significantly after problems started with the oil prices and the global economic crisis as a whole – this is a common problem for all the oil exporters, and this has led to the rapprochement of Russia and Azerbaijan in the last year or two,’’ the expert believes.

"I believe that the strengthening of the economic ties with Russia meets Azerbaijan's interests. Given the fact that Armenia is trying to speculate on the Karabakh topic as a member of the EAEC, we can expect the rapprochement of Baku with the Eurasian Union. As a whole, in general, Azerbaijan is an actively developing country for Russia today, which has great potential,’’ Mikhail Khazin said.

Ruslan Grinberg also praised the economic cooperation between the two countries. "We have fairly active economic relations. There is a great Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia that earns money here and provides Russians with a lot of good products. On the other hand, the two countries are very dependent on oil prices and have some problems in the economy. We are here together,’’ he pointed out.

"Since Russia and Azerbaijan are neighbors, we are destined to have good-neighborly relations, and it will certainly be a very important topic in the future. We will soon see how things will develop,’’ Ruslan Grinberg said.

Ivan Grachev expressed satisfaction with the current level of Russian-Azerbaijani economic cooperation. "Despite the fact that Azerbaijan is a kind of alternative for the European deliveries of gas and oil, Baku has always been and now is pretty balanced. The relationship between the leaders of our two countries are very good, and in terms of fuel and energy cooperation, despite the objective competition, they are quite satisfactory. The parties agree with each other according to the decisions taken in the framework of the energy sector,’’ the deputy said.