BAKU, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hailed the bilateral trade with Russia on Friday, saying it is close to what the two countries had before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We are very glad that the volume of the bilateral trade is reaching the pre-pandemic level, and I am sure that we will keep the dynamics," said Aliyev as he received visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the state-run Azertac news agency reported.
The Azerbaijani leader expressed the hope that his talks with Mishustin will contribute to the increase of bilateral trade.
Aliyev also pointed out good dynamics of freight transportation.
"As regards transit transportation, we are reaching record indicators," he said during the meeting with Mishustin.
He said he believes cooperation in this area will increase both in a bilateral format and with the involvement of neighboring countries.
"The strengthening of the potential of transport corridors, first of all the North-South corridor will be in the interest of all countries and open up additional opportunities," the Azerbaijani leader said.
Aliyev added that the presidents of the two countries have "set a good tone, new dynamics to the relations."
Mishustin noted the western route of the North-South transport corridor, saying Moscow hopes to increase the volume of freight transportation to 15 million tons by 2030.
During his two-day visit, the Russian prime minister met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ali Asadov.
The heads of government witnessed the signing of several documents between the two countries, and attended the 11th Azerbaijan-Russia interregional forum.
Trade between the two countries increased nearly 20 percent to reach almost 3 billion U.S. dollars since the start of the year. ■
