Belarus ambassador: Dialogue with Azerbaijan turns into strategic cooperation
A constructive dialogue between Belarus and Azerbaijan has contributed to the development of cooperation to a strategic level, Belarusian ambassador to Azerbaijan Nikolai Paskevich said at a news conference devoted to the cooperation between the two countries on Tuesday.
"Our relations are characterized by dynamism and similar positions on a range of international issues," he said.
Paskevich said that the most important event in the bilateral relations this year was Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's official visit to Belarus in late August.
"This is the Azerbaijani president's third official visit to our country," the ambassador said. "Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko paid official visits to Azerbaijan twice in 2007 and 2010."
The two leaders discussed a wide range of bilateral issues. They determined the prospects of developing industrial cooperation and expanding direct supply, cooperation in the field of agriculture, investments and IT-technology, he added.
"The Belarusian president has received the invitation from his Azerbaijani counterpart to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan next year," Paskevich said.
He added that the inter-parliamentary relations have developed and inter-ministerial dialogue intensified. Belarusian and Azerbaijani business interest in the exhibition events held in Baku and Minsk also increased. About 20 Belarusian enterprises and organisations participated at five major exhibitions in Baku. Azerbaijani representatives visited such major events in Minsk as the telecommunication exhibition TIBO-2012, agricultural exposition BelAgro 2012 and the Book Fair.
Patskevich added that inter-regional relations significantly increased during the outgoing year. Azerbaijani Mingachevir and Belarusian Polotsk became twinned in 2012.