14.04.2021

Lukashenko arrives in Baku

BAKU, 13 April (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko arrived in Azerbaijan in the evening of 13 April. The Belarusian air force one landed at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, BelTA has learned.

The Baku air harbor, named after former president of Azerbaijan and national leader Heydar Aliyev, is located 25 kilometers away from the capital. State flags of the two countries were displayed, a red carpet rolled out and guards of honor lined up in front of the Sharif government terminal.

Aleksandr Lukashenko was welcomed by an Azerbaijani government delegation and the Belarusian officials who arrived in Baku the day before. After a short ceremony, the head of state got into a car and headed to a meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.

The two leaders will first meet over an informal dinner. As practice shows, more issues are sometimes resolved during such negotiations than during official meetings. "In an informal setting the heads of state will discuss the main areas of Belarusian-Azerbaijan relations and strategic issues of bilateral cooperation," the presidential press service reported earlier.

But still official negotiations are traditionally the central part of visits. They are scheduled for Wednesday and will be held in Zagulba Palace, which is part of the residence of the Azerbaijani leader. It was built in 2008 in the village of the same name on the shores of the Caspian Sea. In the Soviet years, it housed government cottages.

At first the negotiations will be held one-on-one, with participation of the foreign ministers. Then they will be joined by the rest of the delegations to discuss substantive issues.

"The main focus will be on ways of expanding trade and economic cooperation and filling the cooperation with new content. The parties will consider industrial cooperation, review the status of the current projects and new ones in the production and supply of food, processing of agricultural products. The parties will also discuss cooperation in healthcare, science and technology, education and tourism," the presidential press service noted. The heads of state will also exchange views on current issues on the international agenda.

Belarusian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Andrei Ravkov told reporters that Aleksandr Lukashenko's visit to this country was planned at the end of 2020, but was postponed due to the objective reasons. On 21 February Andrei Ravkov presented credentials to the president of Azerbaijan, and the parties discussed the possible time for the visit of the Belarusian head of state.

In 2020, the Belarus-Azerbaijan trade came close to $500 million. Azerbaijan was among Belarus' top 15 trading partners. But, according to the ambassador, last year was difficult for the development of economic cooperation, primarily because of the pandemic situation. Belarus' exports to Azerbaijan expanded by more than 30 commodity items. For example, Belarusian food has proved well on the Azerbaijani market. Stadler trains were also among major contributors to the trade

“Therefore, increasing the export potential between our states is a real task that we need to work on. The visit of the head of state also serves this purpose,” Ambassador Andrei Ravkov said. “A visit at the highest level is not only a political matter. It means, first of all, giving impetus to the relations between the two countries and to the state apparatus to work on the common ground for the benefit of our peoples.”