Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to the Republic of Belarus ended

The official visit of President Ilham Aliyev to the Republic of Belarus has ended.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko had a brief conversation at the Minsk National Airport. 

Touching upon the results of President Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to Belarus and the talks held, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said:

- New ideas and initiatives emerge during our meetings. This has been the case during this visit too. I am very grateful to you for agreeing to receive our delegation in Baku in October and, in general, the joint commission that will look through all the proposals generated during our meetings. And as you said, we will then clearly state the direction in which to move.

Stressing that his country's trade with Azerbaijan is expanding on the basis of mutual interests, the Belarusian leader said:

- We will be happy to give preference to Azerbaijani goods in Belarus with all equal opportunities. We do not ask for any preferences. I think there is probably a lot of sense in this if we do not have any obstacles hampering trade, etc.

President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you, Alexander Grigoryevich. First of all, I would like to thank you for the hospitality and the warm welcome I and members of my delegation have enjoyed. I am very satisfied with the results of my visit. We have spent a lot of time together, discussed very important issues, in particular, of course, the bilateral format, and we see great potential for the future. Of course, what has been done is impressive, because in a short time we have achieved tremendous success in trade, manufacturing and energy sectors. Most importantly, we have identified new ways of developing business and mutually beneficial trade.

Noting the importance of the discussions about ways of expanding economic cooperation, President Ilham Aliyev said:
- This includes new productions in Azerbaijan, the construction sector, agriculture, new areas such as pharmaceuticals.

Yesterday, we discussed the entire potential. In other words, there are many areas that are not yet very involved in our bilateral relations but have a great future. I think the experience of implementing projects is quite unique, the time between decision-making to implementation is the shortest. Most importantly, there is a great mutual desire to develop relations in all directions. So I am going back with a lot of optimism and big plans. On arrival all the necessary instructions will be given to the government to implement all these projects on time and in a quality manner.

President Alexander Lukashenko: We want to rely on Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, and I will ask you not only to give us this opportunity - it is profitable, but also to access the markets of other countries together.

President Ilham Aliyev: We are also interested in this, because over time our domestic market will be almost fully provided with domestic products. That is, we have set such a task, therefore, accessing foreign markets will, of course, be very relevant for us. If we want to develop further – which, of course, we do – we need to think about the export potential and markets. And joint ventures with Belarusian producers will be export oriented. I applaud your decision on the priority cooperation with Azerbaijan in the Caucasus. There are all the prerequisites for that: our relationship and the fact that Azerbaijan accounts for about 80 per cent of the economy of the entire Caucasus. It is the largest country with vast resources and great potential. So we can do a lot together. I think the focus on the markets of third countries will be one of the new areas of our cooperation.

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The guard of honor was arranged in honor of the President of Azerbaijan at the airport decorated with state flags of the two countries.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko saw off President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

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On the same day President Ilham Aliyev returned to Baku.

Meeting the President of Azerbaijan at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport were Prime Minister Artur Rasizadeh and Baku Mayor Hajibala Abutalibov.