One of main factors of the development of dialogue is the positive relations between the presidents of the countries.
The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, giving an interview to the Russia-24 channel, stated that there is a high level of political contacts, due to which effective decisions are made. The characteristic of the relations is strategic partnership.
Meanwhile, the relations between the countries are influenced by external factors. This influence is obvious not only in solving South Caucasus problems, but also in the wide-ranging context of the geopolitical situation in Central Asia, the Caspian region and the Greater Caucasus. Foreign forces are striving for participation in the economic, security and transport communications of the South Caucasus, which does not always lead to positive results. Seldom do they impose artificial contradictions between the Russian and Azerbaijani positions on a set of important strategic issues. Foreign forces are trying to destabilize the political situation in Azerbaijan and test mechanisms of destabilization, which they could implement in Russia in the future.
One of the most important topics of bilateral relations remains a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. After the signing of the Maiendorf declaration, Russia has become the main mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Even though there is much to do for a settlement of the conflict, the first positive results are obvious. During the Sochi negotiations in March there was agreement on exchange of prisoners. Today Russia is positively influencing the settlement of the Karabakh problem. In this report we will avoid the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, as it doesn’t correlate directly with the social economic cooperation between the two countries.
One more direction of bilateral relations is the Caspian dialogue. In reality, the process of rapprochement of the positions of Moscow, Baku and Astana is almost finished. In future this could lead to a compromise between all five litteral countries and a definition of the Caspian Sea's status.
Cooperation in the social and cultural spheres is developing rapidly. The first Azeri-Russian forum on humanitarian cooperation showed that relations between the scientific and academic communities of the countries are at a high level.
One concrete factor of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan is community structures. Azeri people live in almost all regions of Russia. Major Azeri communities are situated in Dagestan, Moscow, the Saratov region and Krasnoyarsk and Stavropol Territories. Several community structures operate in Russia: “Odzhag”, “Russian Representation of Azerbaijani's of the World”, “AzerROS”, VAK and AMOR. The most important role is played by All-Russian Azeri Congress.
The Russians in Azerbaijan are the second-biggest ethnic minority in the republic and one of the biggest Russian communities abroad. Experts stress that the influence of the Russian language and Russian culture is greater than the number of Russians living in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijanis in Russia and Russians in Azerbaijan work hard at development of partnership between the countries.
The core of Russian-Azeri relations is trade and economic cooperation, which defines the pragmatic and reasonable character of the partnership. The structure of trade and economic relations between Russia and Azerbaijan is optimal. However, the level of economic relations doesn’t correlate with the real capacities of the partners in full.
Today there are conditions for making Azeri-Russian relations an example of mutually profitable and equal cooperation on the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Main directions of bilateral cooperation are:
1. Trade and economic cooperation, interregional and inter-industrial cooperation. Joint projects in the finance sector.
Volumes and growth of relations between the two countries can be characterized as adequate to currently realise the consumption and industrial production of both countries. However, optimization of infrastructure is needed in some sectors. Baku and Moscow begin using trans-regional transport communications more actively.
Russia takes first place in the list of import suppliers to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is also an important strategic trading partner of Russia in the South Caucasus. At the moment Azerbaijan is the only country in the region with the potential for technological breakthrough into new industrialization and innovative production.
The Azerbaijani economy takes 72nd place, according to GDP, among national economies in the world (in 2010). In recent years Azerbaijan was a leader of the CIS countries in terms of economic growth.
The basic aspects of trade relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are evidence of positive tendencies in the development of bilateral relations. In 2010, turnover between the countries was $1.9 billion. Exports were $1.56 billion, imports - $385.6 million.
Among products exported by Russia to Azerbaijan in 2010, food came top (22.2%), followed by technologies and equipment (28.5%), metals and metal products (15.7%), wood and paper products (14.2%) and chemical industry products (9.3%).
Among products imported to Russia from Azerbaijan are food products (60.9%), mineral products (13.8%), including fuel, diesel and oils (12.3%) and textiles (9.2%).
One more important direction in bilateral cooperation is the aircraft sector. Astrakhan Airport and the Azerbaijani Air Lines company are preparing for implementation of a joint investment project for building a cargo hub in Astrakhan for 200 million rubles.
Cooperation in the bank financing sphere is developing actively. Azeri bank branches operate in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. Russian banks are presented in Azerbaijan too.
However, there are still some reservations connected with elimination of bureaucratic hurdles and more effective government support for small- and medium-sized business. Systemic usage of the potential will lead to intensification of trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan.
To be continued.
Ilgar Guseinov, Alexei Vlasov, Gulnara Mammedzade, Ismail Agakishiyev, Seimur Aliyev, Alexander Karavaev, Vagif Sharifov, Yugeny Krishtalev, Ilgar Velizade. Moscow-Baku.
