Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has discussed the prospects of cooperation between Belarus and Azerbaijan in the military-technical sphere as he met with Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov on October 9.

The meeting was held within Hasanov's official visit to Belarus at the invitation of the Belarusian Defense Minister, Lieutenant General Andrei Ravkov, which he started on October 8.

At the meeting, Lukashenko noted that Belarus intends to develop military-technical cooperation with Azerbaijan and this cooperation does not contradict international obligations.

“I do not want to justify to anybody what character our cooperation has. I just want to say one thing that our relations are in no way to violate any international treaty, not a single resolution of the Security Council and the United Nations as a whole,” the Belarusian President said.

He further added that Belarus and Azerbaijan have the right to determine those areas of cooperation that correspond to the spirit of the times and the requests of the states.

The President also underlined the fraternal relations between the peoples of the two countries.

“We treat Azerbaijanis with great respect. And, most importantly, I remember well that in difficult times your President always put a shoulder to the Belarusian state,” Lukashenko said.

“We all remember it very well and we are ready – if we can do something for Azerbaijan – to do it so that your people live in safety, the state would develop, and Azerbaijan and its people would be prosperous, so that the population’s incomes would grow and that the Azerbaijanis would be even richer. We will pursue only these noble goals,” the Belarusian President noted.

Lukashenko also added that he hopes to meet with President Ilham Aliyev in the near future.

Zakir Hasanov, in turn, noted that people in Azerbaijan also love Belarus and respect it.

“We have very close relations in all areas. You are absolutely right that we have something to learn from each other,” the minister added.

Hasanov further noted that there are good projects and cooperation in the military-technical field.

“All this does not contradict international laws. I declare with full responsibility that the equipment we received through military-technical cooperation is of high quality and it has been successfully applied in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces,” the defense minister noted. “This gives us an opportunity to continue and even expand cooperation, we are determined to do this.”

A day earlier, Zakir Hasanov visited the defense industry enterprise and the firing range of Belarus. The Azerbaijani delegation got acquainted with military equipment and other military products manufactured by Belarusian defense industry, and inquired about armament and military equipment capable to increase the military power of the Azerbaijani Army.

The army building process is of particular importance for Azerbaijan, as twenty percent of the country's territory is under Armenian occupation and the country is in a state of war with Armenia.

In general, the Azerbaijani Army, which is considered the most modern army in the Caucasus, consists of Air Force and Air Defense Forces, the Navy, and the Land Forces. The skills and combat readiness of the Army are growing year by year, as the country’s Armed Forces regularly conduct military exercises. The Azerbaijani Army is supplied with modern weapons and technical equipment for maintaining a high level of combat capability.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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