The volume of Russian-Azerbaijani bilateral military trade has quadrupled over the past seven years, the director general of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence Industry 'Sharq' company, Ilgar Nazarov, said at the ADEX-2016 exhibition.
"The figure has been growing rapidly for the last three or four years. In comparison to 2009, our cooperation has quadrupled," he said.
A military expert Uzeir Jafarov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the increasing military-technical cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan is not accidental. "Azerbaijan is interested to upgrade its military equipment, and therefore, it has purchased a sufficient number of Russian weapons. For example, at the ADEX-2016, Azerbaijan has introduced a new sniper rifle, made by our and Russian engineers," he said.
The expert pointed out that today the two countries are cooperating in other high-tech industries. "We are talking about technologies for the national economy and public health. I hope that in the near future Azerbaijan and Russia will establish a large-scale military-technical cooperation, which will affect navy, special forces, air and air-defense forces. Azerbaijan has always been interested in good-neighborly and mutually beneficial relations with Russia in all areas, including the military-technical sphere," Uzeir Jafarov stressed.
"Last year, we purchased a large batch of Mi-35M in Russia. In general, Azerbaijan is ready to continue its contacts with Russia in all areas of military-technical cooperation," he concluded.
The expert also pointed out that the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan, attending ADEX-2016, have shown interest in the Russian exposition. "I think that this exhibition will give a new impetus to our relations. Earlier, President Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said during their visit to Azerbaijan that Russia will continue its cooperation with the country. Of course, we hope that this cooperation will help to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the first place," Uzeir Jafarov added.
