Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit – the highest type of visits in the diplomatic protocol – to Azerbaijan on August 18-19.
It will be the Russian leader’s third in-person meeting with Azerbaijan counterpart Ilkham Aliyev this year.
Although Putin and Aliyev maintain regular contacts. The Russian president last visited Baku in September 2018. Nevertheless, the two leaders regularly see each other on the sidelines of various international summits and events.
Their previous in-person conversation took place in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana in July, where they both attended events held within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Also, Aliyev paid a working visit to Moscow in April. The two leaders discussed trade, transport cooperation and security issues in the South Caucasus region.
Apart from that, the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan regularly speak over the phone. Among other things, Putin congratulated Aliyev on a landslide victory in his country’s presidential election in February, while Aliyev congratulated Putin on the same occasion a month later. On March 24, the Azerbaijani leader phoned his Russian counterpart to express condolences over the deadly terror attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue just outside Moscow, strongly condemning the atrocity and expressing the Azerbaijani people’s solidarity with Russia.
According to the Kremlin press service, “during the talks, the parties will discuss matters pertaining to the further advancement of the Russian-Azerbaijani strategic partnership and alliance, as well as current international and regional issues.”
It is planned to approve a Joint Statement of the heads of state and sign intergovernmental agreements and other documents, the Kremlin said.
Source: TASS
