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Baku, Minsk call for development of relations

7 October 2014 14:45 (UTC+04:00)
Baku, Minsk call for development of relations

By Sara Rajabova

Belarus wants Azerbaijan to become a manufacturing hub for many goods across the whole region.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the remark on October 6 during a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who is on official visit to Minsk.

Lukashenko expressed satisfaction with the high level of development of relations between the two countries. He emphasized on the great capacity for further expansion of cooperation and supported the efforts made ​​in this direction, BelTA news agency reported.

He further said Belarus and Azerbaijan should work harder to build up mutual trade. He added that Belarus attaches great importance to production of the most popular Belarusian equipment in Azerbaijan. "It is also important as Azerbaijani companies always support such projects financially."

Lukashenko said Azerbaijan and Belarus have been developing all-round cooperation, adding that the two countries have big cooperation prospects.

Mammadyarov, for his part, said Azerbaijan shares the views of Belarus on the bilateral relations.

He noted that Azerbaijan aims to increase the volume of the trade turnover, as from the political point of view, two country's positions coincide almost on all issues on the international agenda.

The sides also discussed the issue of holding the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission and stressed the necessity of enriching the agenda in line with priorities of the development of bilateral cooperation.

During his visit, Mammadyarov also met his Belarusian colleague Vladimir Makey, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

One of the discussion topics was dynamically developing bilateral politic-economic ties based on sincere friendly relations.

Also the two sides underlined common position towards many of international problems. The sides further discussed the issues of cooperation within the framework of international organizations.

Two ministers mentioned that the inter-parliamentary contacts play a significant role in development of bilateral relations.

They also discussed topics of the next meeting of cooperation commission including contract-law base expansion, long-term economic projects and mutual investments. The sides mentioned that both of the countries have great opportunities to cooperate in high-tech, agriculture, culture areas and in different areas of industry.

During a press-conference after the meeting, Belarusian Foreign Minister Makey said Belarus and Azerbaijan have agreed to improve their legal base.

Touching upon the economic and trade cooperation, he said the trade turnover between the countries reached nearly $ 300 million last year.

Makey noted that this year, the trade and economic relations between Belarus and Azerbaijan are developing fast, adding that the increase stands at 26 percent. He said this trend will persist and continue to rise.

Mammadyarov expressed his dissatisfaction with the economic cooperation between Belarus and Azerbaijan adding there is a great capacity for this development.

He noted that there are plenty of issues of economic nature, which can be worked on, adding that Belarusian companies have opportunities for cooperation in the energy sector.

Azerbaijan and Belarus relations have a deep history of cooperation. Both countries were part of the Russian Empire until 1918 and before gaining independence in 1991, they were part of the Soviet Union.

Diplomatic relations between two republics established in 1993 but two countries started to get closer during past decade. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev paid a visit to Belarus on October 17-18, 2006 which was the first high level visit of Azerbaijan. During the visit nine bilateral documents were signed.

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

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