Aliyev, Lukashenko to hold talks in Baku

BAKU, June 3 (Itar-Tass) - Azerbaijan's President Ilkham Aliyev on
Thursday will meet with his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko,
who is on an official visit to Baku, to discuss stronger economic
cooperation, including that in agriculture, construction and
machine-building.
In particular, Belarus expressed readiness to take part in the
construction of dairy farms and processing industry enterprises in
Azerbaijan. Moreover, Minsk offers Baku its experience of creating
technoparks and developing a general layout of Azerbaijan's capital.
Moreover, the sides will consider cooperation in the military
technical sector.
Experts forecast that the talks in Baku will also focus on supplies of
Azerbaijan's oil to Belarus' refineries through Georgia and Ukraine.
The visit will end on June 4 with the signing of several bilateral
agreements.
During his stay in Baku Lukashenko will meet with Prime Minister Artur
Rasizade and will visit the Baku Slavic University, the largest centre of
Slavic studies in the South Caucasus, where he will unveil the Centre of
Belarussian Language and Culture. He will also take part in a brick-laying
ceremony of a new building of the Belarussian embassy in Baku.
According to official statistics, last year's trade between Azerbaijan
and Belarus reached $124.6 million, up by 11.6 percent as against 2008. In
January-March 2010 the trade turnover comprised $42.8 million, up by 27.8
percent as against the same period of 2009.