Strengthening friendly ties between Russia and Azerbaijan

An agreement on cooperation between the all-Russian public organization, "Assembly of Peoples of Russia", the "All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress" and the interregional public organization, "Friendship with Azerbaijan," was signed on Tuesday in Moscow.

Speaking at the document signing ceremony, Head of the "Assembly of Peoples of Russia" Senator Ramazan Abdulatipov said that now "our priority is to make Russia and Azerbaijan a community of friendship, history has paved the way for it: Azerbaijani people speak Russian fluently and understand Russian culture," the Assembly reports.

"They are Azerbaijani by birth, but they combine both cultures, Russian and Azerbajani," Abdulatipov stressed.

Based on the mutual interest in perfecting the relations between the nations, the agreement participants intend to step up the relations of freedom and cooperation between Azerbaijan and all Russian nationalities.

The countries will particularly focus on preventing international strife and acts of ethnopolitical extremism, propaganda of ethnical clashes and discrimination and will assist in resolving ethnical disputes and controversies through dialogue.

Under the agreement the countries undertook commitments to protect human rights and freedoms and those of a citizen, regardless of their nationality, including the right to preserve and develop native tongue and culture.