Russian offcial: Azerbaijan is Russia's leading and most powerful strategic partner in region

Official Moscow attaches special importance to boosting cooperation with Azerbaijan, said visiting deputy speaker of the Council of Federation of the Russian Federal Assembly Svetlana Orlova.

She said friendly relations between Russia and Azerbaijan had old history.

Thanks to efforts by the Azerbaijani and Russian presidents, bilateral relationship expanded even more to reach the level of strategic partnership, she underlined, adding: “We are not only strategic partners, but also close friends.”

According to Orlova, high-level reciprocal visits contribute to deepening relationship between the two countries.

Touching upon bilateral economic cooperation, she said in spite of the global financial crisis the volume of economic and trade turnover increases.

On the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, she noted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev makes great efforts to contribute to settling the dispute.

Russia believes that the conflict must be resolved peacefully and on the basis of principles of international law, she added.

“We hope that our relevant efforts will yield positive results”.

/AzerTaj/