Belarus keen on developing ties with Azerbaijani parliamenat

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

Belarus intends to develop cooperation with Azerbaijan's newly-elected parliament. The cooperation issues will be discussed during the forthcoming visit of Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament to Belarus, which is scheduled for early 2016.

This was noted by Vitaly Busko, Deputy Chairman of the Commission on International Affairs of the House of Representatives of Belarus, media reported on November 4.

Busko was among the members of the CIS election monitoring mission, which observed the November 1 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.

When in Baku, Busko met with parliamentarians of different countries, the authorities of the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan, representatives of political parties, public organizations, mass media, and also visited the polling stations.

During these visits the preparation of the visit was among the most discussed issues. "Prior to this, we want to organize a visit of the Friendship Group of the Belarusian Parliament on cooperation with the Azerbaijani Parliament to Baku to discuss the content of the forthcoming visit," he said.

Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Belarus were established in 1993, but Azerbaijan and Belarus started to get closer during past decade.

Currently the two countries enjoy high level ties in various fields and closely cooperate within international organizations. Belarus opened embassy in Azerbaijan in February 2006, Azerbaijan opened embassy in Belarus in August 2006.

According to the Belarusian government, the Belarus-Azerbaijan mutual trade turnover totaled $330.8 million in 2014.

Belarus' main exports include products of wood working, mechanical engineering, foodstuffs, medications, ferrous metals and glassware. Azerbaijan's exports comprise oil products, hydrocarbons, juices, agricultural products, aluminum goods.

Currently the two countries are implementing the long-term social and economic cooperation program through 2015. Belarus has been implementing projects in logistics, public catering, and trade with a total amount of Azerbaijani investment of over $20 million. Minsk and Baku operate regular flights.