Chief of socio-political affairs department at the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov is in Russia on the invitation of the country's Presidential Administration.
Hasanov held meetings with head of the Presidential Administration Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russian President's Department for Interregional and Cultural Relations Sergey Vinokurov, deputy head of the Presidential Administration Aleksey Gromov and special representative of the Russian President for inter-cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy.
Commenting on results of his meetings, Hasanov told Azerbaijani journalists "all talks took place in a friendly and constructive atmosphere".
Hasanov praised the Azerbaijan-Russia relations, stressing the bilateral cooperation in the social, political, cultural and informational areas, as well as the work with Diaspora.
"Russia is one of Azerbaijan's largest neighbors, which is home to a large Azerbaijani Diaspora. Our countries are bound by close and long-term humanitarian, cultural and socio-political ties."
Hasanov said that during the meetings they discussed a wide range of issues of mutual concern.
"We discussed concrete joint projects and outlined further priorities of our cooperation."
Hasanov said: "The strategy of our bilateral relations are also defined by the documents signed by Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev, in particular those signed during the Russian leader's recent visit to Baku."
Hasanov also revealed his itinerary for tomorrow: "Tomorrow we will meet heads of Russia's media outlets, TV channels, newspapers and news agencies. And the goal is to discuss the current state of socio-political, cultural and informational exchange between our countries, and outline the priorities of further cooperation."
He touched upon a recent official visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Azerbaijan, calling it "an actually historic and remarkable event".
"The visit marked a first time when our countries signed a legal document on delimitation of the borders. Our heads of state made statements emphasizing the importance of developing the strategic partnership relations."
Hasanov recalled a first Azerbaijan-Russia humanitarian forum, which was hosted by Baku this year, and an inter-regional forum involving representatives of self-governance institutions, political parties, NGOs and Russian regional media outlets.
"We plan to organize a similar inter-regional Azerbaijan-Russia forum in Astrakhan," he added.
"We enjoy close cooperation with Russia in the informational area, and we are benefit from the resources of their media outlets in highlighting processes taking place in Azerbaijan, in particular the country's reforms and achievements and the processes of building a civil society. At the same time, the Russian government is also interested in promoting Russia in Azerbaijan."
Hasanov said: "For example, there is a special digest in the Bakinsky rabochiy newspaper, and we are also interested in continuing our cooperation in this context."

AzerTAc