TODAY.AZ / Politics

President Aliyev visits Belarus

30 November 2015 [11:16] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was on a one-day official visit to Belarus on November 28.

As part of the Minsk visit, President Aliyev first visited a monument to the victory in the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945 in Victory Square in Minsk, and the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War History.

Later, an official welcoming ceremony for President Aliyev was held at the Independence Palace in Minsk, where Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko welcomed his Azerbaijani counterpart.

Following the official welcoming ceremony, the two presidents held a one-on-one meeting.

During the meeting President Lukashenko said that thanks to the development of the Belarusian-Azerbaijani relations, the trade turnover between the two countries increased, and various problematic political issues were solved.

"Actually we are determined and we agreed with you to do our utmost to achieve maximum results. Nevertheless, in these difficult times in terms of economy we manage to keep the trade turnover nearly at the level we had at best times. However, our trade turnover with all the countries has significantly decreased. Therefore we have done a lot, laid a good foundation for our relations. We have established a practice of annual communication at the highest level – one year in our country, the next one in yours," he said.

President Aliyev, in turn, invited his Belarusian counterpart to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan next year. President Aliyev believes that there are many issues to be discussed.

"First of all, each visit is a political recognition of a strategic nature of our relations. Second, we address a lot of issues on all fronts – both in political sphere, foreign policy, economy, industry. There are not any restrictions in the issues of our cooperation with Belarus, and we see very positive dynamics, results in many areas," he stressed.

The presidents also exchanged views on the bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest.

Following their one-on-one meeting, the two presidents met in an expanded format, which was followed by a ceremony of signing the documents between the two countries.

President Aliyev and President Lukashenko signed a Joint Declaration.

Other signed documents include an agreement on Socio-Economic Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Belarus until 2025, a protocol on Cooperation in the Field of Compulsory State Social Insurance, and an agreement on Cooperation between Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Science Development Foundation under the Azerbaijani President and Belarus National Academy of Sciences, Foundation for Fundamental Research of Belarus.

After the signing ceremony, the Azerbaijani and Belarusian presidents made statements for the press.

President Aliyev completed his official visit to Belarus on November 28.

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.

The Belarus-Azerbaijan mutual trade turnover totaled $330.8 million in 2014, according to the Belarusian government. This figure stood at $74.95 million in January-October 2015.

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.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/145555.html

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