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Such a concept as “agenda of bilateral Russia-Azerbaijan relations” has unclear limits, which is a positive factor indicating that it is constantly expanding, well-known Azerbaijani political analyst Tofiq Abbasov said . Abbasov made the remarks in Baku during the Moscow-Baku video-conference entitled “Russia-Azerbaijan: agenda for 2019,” organized at the press-center of Trend news agency.
“This is a very encouraging trend that stimulates the mood of the Azerbaijani and Russian business and political elites,” he said.
“I think that political elites have done more in the development of bilateral relations, gradually, I would say step by step striving for establishing a trusting political dialogue between the two countries,” Abbasov said. “That is why it is obvious that the political dialogue between Russia and Azerbaijan is intensifying. In fact, this is the relay race, which is passed on to our business elites, who mostly operate by inertia.”
He stressed that presently, a lot of social and economic agreements which are advantageous for business people were signed, however, despite this fact, some of them act cautiously.
“Meanwhile, today there is no need for the parties to get accustomed to each other as they got accustomed to each other long ago,” he added. “Therefore, if political elites break through big corridors and open big highways, businessmen must take advantage of that.”
“Today there is every chance to say that a big geo-economic zone may be created in the Caspian region,” he said.
In this regard, Abbasov touched upon the agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea signed by the Caspian countries.
“Of course, the Caspian five countries in Astana reached a breakthrough in the issue of determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea,” Abbasov said. “However, even before this event, Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan reached a trilateral agreement that the parties have no complaints to each other. In fact, we have come to the consensus even before the signing of the historical document, which also testifies to the full mutual understanding in bilateral and trilateral formats. This is an encouraging fact.” “Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are actively developing as there are great opportunities, in particular, in the fields of economy, transport, communication, humanitarian sphere, tourism sector,” Abbasov added. “The strategic cooperation is being strengthened.”
“Our countries play a key role in many areas,” he said. “I think that today the biggest need is in the dynamics. We must not forget that the sanction ghost wanders around the world and perhaps it will affect the interests of many countries.”
“Therefore, we must develop bilateral scientific and technical capabilities and the technological potential of our enterprises,” he said. “This means that if new jobs are created, it is necessary to think about making bilateral efforts, the formation of a new sphere in the field of high technologies. For this purpose, our countries have all the prerequisites to think about import substitution, as well as creation of a modern high-tech market.”
“2019 opens up great opportunities to stimulate the areas having a potential which is in demand,” Abbasov said.
“The deviation from the commodity economy is important,” he said. “For this purpose, the parties must think about how to give incentives to the scientific departments and it is important to be in the spirit of innovation and active search to achieve that.”
