After the ceremony of signing the documents, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko have made statements for the press.

Statement of President Ilham Aliyev:

- Thank you, dear Alexander Grigoryevich,

Dear ladies and gentlemen!

First of all, I would like to thank you again, Alexander Grigoryevich, for the invitation and the hospitality my delegation and I have enjoyed in Belarus. I am glad to visit the friendly and brotherly Belarus again, so we could identify ways of further development of our relations together.

Important documents that will determine our future relations in various fields have been signed today. I would like to highlight the signing of the Joint Declaration by Presidents. The Declaration covers almost all spheres of our life. It also dwells upon our interaction in international organizations where we always support each other. It touches upon economic and political cooperation, cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, in the sphere of industrial production and the military-industrial area. On all these issues we have established a very close relationship, a relationship based on friendship, brotherhood and mutual trust. As we noted with Alexander Grigoryevich today, we built this relationship for years. Today they have reached a level that meets the interests of our peoples and allows us to characterize it as a relationship between strategic partners.

We have always tried to support each other and will continue to do everything in our power for Belarus and Azerbaijan to always feel each other’s support. In the international structures, within the framework of economic cooperation and on all matters we have very sincere relations.

We have identified ways of further economic cooperation. Of course, I want to share the view of Alexander Grigoryevich that it is gratifying that the turnover between our countries has remained stable even in a crisis period. But we have also discussed in great detail the projects that can significantly increase our turnover. We should pay more attention to mutual trade, in particular, the imports of products which we import from other countries – from Belarus to Azerbaijan and from Azerbaijan to Belarus. The creation of joint ventures already has a good history, and the Ganja Plant is a good example of that – in a very short time, in less than a year, it has established production on the basis of Belarusian technologies. Today, this plant is an important industrial facility in Azerbaijan.

We are ready to consider establishing other enterprises using Belarusian technologies in Azerbaijan, as well as facilities to process Azerbaijani agricultural products in Belarus. In other words, there is a strong political base for strengthening the economic ties and cooperation among business circles. And my visit to Belarus is explicit confirmation of that. This year, Alexander Grigoryevich visited Azerbaijan to attend the opening of the First European Games. I would like to take this opportunity to invite Mr. Lukashenko to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan next year.

These visits are a good message to our peoples and the region. Also, from a practical point of view, they are very useful because it is during these visits that we agree plans and projects which we later implement. I think that one of the characteristics of our relationship is that whatever we agree on, we always implement that. We are reliable partners and value our relationship and friendship. I am confident that the development of our relations will continue to be provided in the future. Belarus and Azerbaijan, as two friends, will move forward successfully. Thank you very much again for the hospitality and the attention extended to our delegation. Thank you.

AZERTAC