During the Soviet years, Azerbaijan had a special aura. Baku played the role of foreign coastal cities in films – in “Amphibian Man” it became Buenos Aires, in “The Diamond Arm” – Istanbul. Our correspondent found himself on a street familiar to everyone, where Semyon Semenych Gorbunkov slipped and the famous “damn it” sounded. Now the city has the role of an important transport hub on the shores of the Caspian Sea and the suppression of the North-South and West-East corridors.
Baku met our delegation with fog, but the prospects are quite clear.
“A clear indication of this is that – I received information today – 135 flights of Russian and Azerbaijani air carriers per week. This, I think, is a record achievement.”– said the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
The backlog is what the Russian resident spoke about in his message to the Federal Assembly: special attention is given to the new North-South trade route from Russia to Iran, India, Pakistan, and the countries of the Middle East. With Europe hiding from Moscow behind sanctions packages, this route becomes vital. And, for everyone. The second Russian flag was urgently raised in the courtyard of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
Now it is important to quickly establish the work of a new trade route. There is a lot of talk in Russia about the importance of turning to the South, about the southern corridor. Our correspondent asked the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry where Azerbaijan’s place is on this route.
“From this point of view, I would put in the first place the agreement of our leaders on the coordination of steps to create the international North-South transport corridor, the implementation of other infrastructure projects in the region, which will certainly increase its geopolitical significance,” – said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia historically has a special role in Transcaucasia. It was our peacekeepers who actually stopped the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Now the NATO countries are trying to interrupt the mediator’s initiative.
“Currently, if I may say so, we are engaged in online diplomacy, when comments on the draft peace agreement are simply forwarded,” said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
The most important thing is that there is mutual understanding.
“Today these relations are developing and developing in all directions. As they say, we have no problems in terms of communication, in terms of interaction,” – said the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan to the Russian Federation Polad Bulbul ogly.
The next point of the Asian tour of Sergey Lavrov is India. New Delhi will host a meeting of G20 foreign ministers, where US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Foreign Ministers of Washington’s European satellites are flying. At exactly the same meeting of G20 finance ministers a few days ago, it was not possible to agree on a final statement due to provocations from the West. Looks like it’s going to be hot.
