MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilkham Aliyev, met in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss economic cooperation and the situation in the Caucasus.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said before the talks that the meeting was an opportunity to discuss "the development of Russian-Azerbaijani relations."
The Russian leader added that he expected the trade between the two countries to rise this year by almost 18%, to $2 billion.
A Kremlin source said earlier in the day that the heads of states would also discuss the situation in the Caucasus region in the light of recent conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia.
The meeting is the third time the two leaders have met this year, following an informal CIS summit on June 6 and President Medvedev's visit to Azerbaijan on July 3-4.