The President of Chechnya, Ramazan Kadyrov is in Azerbaijan on an official visit. The Chechen leader is expected to meet with President Ilham Aliev and other senior Azerbaijani officials.
APA news agency reported that Kadyrov told journalists that the relations between the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan had always been friendly. "We are interested in developing these relations in the future. We are most of all interested in the experience of Azerbaijan in the spheres of construction, education, culture and etc and intend to sign agreements on cooperation. There are many projects in our country, which will be of interest to Azerbaijani investors. It is also in the interest of Russia," he said.
According to APA the Chechen Republic and Azerbaijan are expected to sign an intergovernmental agreement during the visit.
On Thursday Kadyrov visited the Azerbaijani Parliament. Welcoming Kadyrov, the Speaker of the Parliament Oqtay Asadov said that friendly relations between the Azerbaijani and Chechen people have a long history, and the two republics have established extensive connections. He expressed confidence that the visit of the head of Chechnya will give impetus to the further expansion of these relations and develop them to a new level, according to news.az.
Commonspace.eu political editor said in a comment that "Azerbaijan has in recent years put considerable efforts in developing relations with the North Caucasus Republics, especially with Daghestan and Chechnya. Azerbaijan is concerned about the Islamist insurgency in these territories and there has been extensive co-operation between the security serices of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and the North Caucasus Republics.
In the 1990s Azerbaijan also received visits from the separatist leader, Aslan Maskhadov, much to the disquiet of Moscow. Kadyrov's visit is less controversial and comes with Russia's blessing. But Azerbaijan still has to walk a fine line with towing Mosocw's line in the North caucasus and not becoming a target of the Islamist insurgency."
source: commonspace.eu
photo: President Ilham Aliev welcoming Ramazan Kadyrov of Chechnya in Baku on 15 November 2012 (picture courtesy of the press Service of the President of Azerbaijan).
