Russian, Azerbaijani MPs meet in Baku

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

An interparliamentary commission for cooperation of the Azerbaijani Parliament and the Russian Council has convened its 12th meeting in Baku on December 23.

Valeh Alasgarov, Vice-Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament highlighted the agenda of the meeting.

“We will discuss the membership of the commission, results of the activities in 2014, and also outline further priorities, and define prospects for energy cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

He said the meeting will also consider plans of the interparliamentary commission for 2015, and define the venue and time of the 13th meeting.

Ilyas Umakhanov, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Council said the Russian side made some changes to the composition of the commission. “We have added to the commission members of the Russian Council's committees for agrarian and food policy, science, education and culture, as well as representatives from Russian Bashkortostan, Astrakhan and Samara regions,” he said.

Azerbaijan and Russia established diplomatic relations on April 4, 1992.

Russia is the main trade partner of Azerbaijan in the CIS. It also ranks first among the countries importing goods from Azerbaijan.

Currently, there are 570 companies with Russian capital in Azerbaijan. Russia has recently invested $628.4 million in Azerbaijan's fixed capital. But Azerbaijan's investment in the Russian economy for 10 years amounted to nearly $1 billion.

Russian-Azerbaijani relations in culture and education are developing steadily. In December 2006, the two countries adopted a program of interstate cooperation in the humanitarian sphere for 2007-2009.