Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the heads of the world's leading news agencies at the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex in St. Petersburg on June 5 that relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are developing successfully, reliably and pragmatically.

Putin stressed: "You know, we feel the mood of the Azerbaijani leadership to build interstate relations on the basis of mutual interests and, I would say, even a certain degree of sympathy for each other". He noted that about 300 schools in Azerbaijan teach children in Russian, and that President Ilham Aliyev supports the study of the language in every possible way.
"This means that the Azerbaijani leadership assumes that the Russian language is needed by the citizens of Azerbaijan. And why? For the development of bilateral relations - and they are developing," Putin said. He also reminded that the trade turnover between the two countries is about 4.6 billion dollars and is developing rapidly.

The Russian president expressed confidence that if this attitude is maintained on both sides, the results will be very good. He pointed out that both countries still have a lot to do to develop bilateral relations, especially in the field of logistics. This includes the North-South transport corridor and the construction of logistics centers on the Russian-Azerbaijani border.
"As for the North-South road, it can become a very good and sought-after international corridor, if cargoes from here, right where you and I are - from the port of St. Petersburg - will go through the entire European part to Azerbaijan, then to Iran and with access to the Persian Gulf coast," Putin added.

The Russian president also stressed the need to develop logistics centers on the Dagestan-Azerbaijan border.

He said: "A lot needs to be done in terms of logistics development. It concerns not only the North-South, this road, but also other vectors. The connection of logistics centers, including on the border of Russia and Azerbaijan on the section of Dagestan".

Putin emphasized that the North-South transport corridor could significantly reduce the delivery time of cargoes from Russia to the Persian Gulf countries by 10 days compared to the traditional route through the Suez Canal.