Top diplomat: Moscow and Baku advancing allied partnership potential

Russia and Azerbaijan are continuing efforts to fully realise the potential of their 2022 Declaration on Allied Interaction despite periodic challenges in bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

Speaking at an expanded-format meeting in Moscow, Lavrov said regular engagement between the two countries' presidents, governments, ministries and parliaments demonstrated a shared commitment to strengthening ties, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

"Despite the occasional difficulties that inevitably arise, we are moving towards fully realising the potential of the Moscow Declaration on Allied Interaction, signed on 22 February 2022," he said.

Lavrov also said the two countries had this year resolved all outstanding issues related to the AZAL passenger plane crash, describing it as a "shared tragedy", without providing further details.

The Russian foreign minister said the talks would focus on the current state and future prospects of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic sphere. He noted that the 24th meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission had taken place in April.

Lavrov added that the ministers would also discuss developments in the South Caucasus and the regional "3+3" cooperation platform, which brings together Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Türkiye, although Georgia has not participated in the format.

He said Moscow had observed growing interest in the platform and expressed confidence that the discussions with Bayramov would be productive.

Lavrov also described humanitarian cooperation as a longstanding pillar of Russian-Azerbaijani relations and said the ministers were prepared to discuss a broad range of regional and international issues, including coordination on multilateral platforms.