BAKU (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Putin had talks with Aliyev in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
"It is about time for us [Russia, Azerbaijan] to talk about this [bilateral trade] and try to find ways of tackling these issues [of decreasing volume]," Putin said.
The Russian president noted that among the causes of the decrease in bilateral trade are crises in the world and domestic economies, falling prices and exchange rate fluctuation.
"We have maintained real volumes, but, of course, we have promising, prospective projects, not only in the field of energy, but in other sectors," Putin added.
Putin pointed out that almost 600 Russian companies currently operate in Azerbaijan, while direct investments total approximately $1.5 billion. He also added that the bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Baku had now become of more a strategic alliance.
