Russia, Azerbaijan to review bilateral trade to ensure its further growth - Russian Deputy PM

ZANGILAN, Azerbaijan. April 16 (Interfax) - Russian and Azerbaijani authorities have been instructed to analyze the structure of the trade between the two countries to ensure more of it, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk told journalists after a meeting of the Russia-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission on Thursday.

"We always note the Azerbaijani interest to develop relations with Russia. Today we also devoted a considerable amount of time to expanding our trade, economic and investment cooperation. We gave instructions to relevant authorities in Russia and Azerbaijan to review, look at the structure of our bilateral trade and find ways to increase our trade further," Overchuk said.

In 2025 bilateral trade stood at $4.1 billion, according to Russian data.

The two sides will also work to improve conditions for carriers, Overchuk said. "Today we devoted a lot of time to the question of tariffs on freight transportation, we are working together to start using electronic transport waybills for international cargo road transportation services," Overchuk said during the commission's meeting.

Russia is still keen on building the Rasht-Astara railroad section which forms part of the western itinerary of the North-South international transport corridor crossing Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, Overchuk told journalists.

"Before the war, there was active buyout of land for the railroad, this was done in accordance with our agreements with Iran. Most land plots for construction had been bought by early March. In addition, Russian companies were about to begin conducting topographic geodetic work and rolled out an actual geodetic network for the construction work, i.e. effectively the construction work was already starting. We will resume this work as soon as conditions permit," Overchuk said.