Azerbaijan committed to cooperation with Belarusian regions

Azerbaijan is committed to cooperation with the regions of Belarus, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan to Belarus Ulvi Bakhshaliyev said during a meeting with Brest Oblast Governor Yuri Shuleiko, BelTA has learned.

"Azerbaijani-Belarusian relations rely on a high level of trust between our presidents. A good indicator of this is the trade between the countries. In 2020, it was $425 million, and in 2021 it reached almost $1 billion," Ambassador Ulvi Bakhshaliyev said. He noted that Azerbaijan is set to implement large infrastructure projects. "The experience of Belarus is very interesting for us. Therefore, we are starting our visit to the region with the economic block, with establishing contacts with companies. Today we visited STiM, we got interested,” the ambassador said.

For example, in January-March of this year, the trade between Brest Oblast and Azerbaijan surged by almost 50%. The supply of machines or mechanisms for harvesting crops has increased 15 times. Brest also exports batteries and furniture. "But still, our main export item to Azerbaijan is food. We are stepping up our dairy shipments. We are an agrarian region. This year, we look  to increase our share in the country’s total exports of meat and dairy products to 30%," Governor Yuri Shuleiko informed.

Ambassador Ulvi Bakhshaliyev is planning to visit Brest Fortress today. "You cannot leave Brest without paying tribute to the Fatherland defenders. It is definitely in our program. A lot of Azerbaijanis took part in the defense of Brest Fortress, I think there were 44 of them," the diplomat added. He also intends to meet with representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora, who, by the way, are already preparing for the national festival of cultures due in Grodno in early June.