7/7 Tass 13
BAKU, July 7 (Itar-Tass) —— Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich will visit Azerbaijan on Thursday, July 7, to discuss how to strengthen economic ties between the two countries.
According to government sources, the Belarusian prime minister’s two-day official visit will begin in Gyandzhi, a big industrial city in the west of Azerbaijan, where he will arrive from Minsk. Myasnikovich will have talks with senior officials from the city administration and attend the opening ceremony for a joint Azerbaijani-Belarusian-German venture at the local automotive manufacturing plant that will make municipal vehicles.
Myasnikovich will arrive in Baku on July 8 for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev and Prime Minister Artur Rasi-zade to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues, including prospects for increasing Azerbaijani investments in Belarus, broadening cooperation in the petrochemical industry, as well as in fields of industrial cooperation, construction, science and technology.
It was reported earlier that the Belarusian prime minister would request a loan from Azerbaijan in order to stabilise the national economy at home. However Belarusian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Nikolai Patskevich denied thee reports.
The sides are expected to sign an agreement on the mutual recognition of higher education diplomas and an agreement on the exchange of land for the construction of the Belarusian Embassy in Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Belarus.
Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Belarus in the first five months of this year increased 7 times from the same period of last year to 475 million U.S. dollars.
More than 300 Belarusian enterprises supply their products to Azerbaijan. Belarusian tractors, trucks, crane trucks, optical equipment, and lifts are assembled in Azerbaijan.
Minsk believes that industrial cooperation, including detachable and towing equipment and harvester production, and railway carriage repairs, could be quite promising.
Comprehensive cooperation in the agro-industrial sector, supply of buses, MAZ trucks, agricultural machinery, and medicines are also among priority areas of joint work.