BAKU, August 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit - the highest type of visits in the diplomatic protocol - to Azerbaijan on August 18-19.

It will be the Russian leader’s third in-person meeting with Azerbaijani counterpart Ilkham Aliyev this year.

Although Putin and Aliyev maintain regular contacts. The Russian president last visited Baku in September 2018. Nevertheless, the two leaders regularly see each other on the sidelines of various international summits and events.

Their previous in-person conversation took place in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana in July, where they both attended events held within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Also, Aliyev paid a working visit to Moscow in April. The two leaders discussed trade, transport cooperation and security issues in the South Caucasus region.

Apart from that, the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan regularly speak over the phone. Among other things, Putin congratulated Aliyev on a landslide victory in his country’s presidential election in February, while Aliyev congratulated Putin on the same occasion a month later. On March 24, the Azerbaijani leader phoned his Russian counterpart to express condolences over the deadly terror attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue just outside Moscow, strongly condemning the atrocity and expressing the Azerbaijani people’s solidarity with Russia.

According to the Kremlin press service, "during the talks, the parties will discuss matters pertaining to the further advancement of the Russian-Azerbaijani strategic partnership and alliance, as well as current international and regional issues."

It is planned to approve a Joint Statement of the heads of state and sign intergovernmental agreements and other documents, the Kremlin said.

Russian-Azerbaijani economic cooperation

During his meeting with Aliyev in Kazakhstan in July, Putin said trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan was developing positively.

"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that on the key issue - trade and economic interaction, our relations are developing positively. This is more than four billion in turnover and 4.3-4.5 billion are direct Russian investments in the economy of Azerbaijan. The trend is good, in the first half of the year, as far as I know, there has already been a 13% growth. In general, everything is developing positively," the head of the Russian state said.

Putin also touched upon joint infrastructure projects of Moscow and Baku, noting that the North-South international transport corridor comes as the priority.

Putin also drew attention to the humanitarian component of cooperation, stressing that the Days of Russian Culture had recently completed in Azerbaijan.

"I always note your personal special attention to supporting the Russian language: more than 300 schools in Azerbaijan work with the Russian language, teach young people and children the language. This creates a good basis and prospects for maintaining and developing our relations for the future," the Russian leader concluded.