'Cooperation with Azerbaijan is priority'

Strategic relations with Azerbaijan is a priority for the fraternal people of the Caucasus, deputy representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus Federal District Sergei Subbotin said at the third the Russian-Azerbaijani inter-regional forum in Baku on Thursday.

"We have created a separate legal framework for cooperation between Azerbaijan and North Caucasus Federal District, but we still have work to do in this matter," Subbotin said.

He said that the bulk of transactions between the parties consist of raw materials and primary products.

"The task of Russia is to attract Azerbaijani business to the development of tourism in the North Caucasus. Many countries have shown interest in the growth of ski resorts, but, unfortunately, there are few representatives from Azerbaijani businesses in this area," Subbotin said.

"Unfortunately, the issue of the boundaries between Azerbaijan and Russia are settling slowly. However, there is great mutual interest in solving these problems. We agree that there should be a joint executive body which would have started tracking the effectiveness of addressing these issues," he said.

Subbotin noted that Russia creates a council that will deal with tracking all contacts of North Caucasus Federal District.

"We want to create a unified representation of the North Caucasus Federal District in Azerbaijan. This question has already been solved. Now the legal issues are considered and we will come to a decision soon," he said.

The third Azerbaijani-Russian inter-regional forum 'Russian-Azerbaijani dialogue 2012' has opened today in Baku.

The forum has been organised by the Eurasian Research Institute development fund with the support of the Azerbaijani and Russian presidential administrations. The representatives of the Russian central and regional bodies, large, medium and small business and Russian and Azerbaijani NGOs attended the forum.


/Trend/