After a face-to-face meeting, President Ilham Aliyev and President of Belarus Alexandxer Lukashenko held a meeting in an expanded format with the participation of delegations.

After welcoming President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to his country again, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that bilateral relations had further expanded since their previous meetings and acquired the nature of strategic cooperation. He praised the Azerbaijani President for this.

President Alexander Lukashenko said:

- We have agreed on projects, contracts, specific areas of cooperation, and we rigorously follow and exercise control over them at the highest level. We have strictly maintained the dynamics of our relationship and meetings at the highest level alternately in Minsk and Baku. Ilham Aliyev and I have agreed that we will continue to do the same. We are gladly accepting your invitation, Mr. President, to visit your beautiful country. Next year we will visit Azerbaijan with a delegation.

We will reach new agreements today and will monitor their implementation.

Noting that cooperation was developing in almost all areas, the Belarusian President explained this by the lack of any disagreements in the political dialogue between the two countries. Alexander Lukashenko stressed that the two countries cooperate constructively in international organizations. According to him, the policy of Belarus and Azerbaijan is primarily aimed at economic development and the welfare of the people.

Expressing his gratitude for the hospitality and for the invitation to pay a visit to Belarus, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said this visit would further enhance the relations between the two countries. He said:

- I want to reiterate that our relations have a very high level of dynamism, specificity and predictability. Most importantly, the procedure for implementing the decisions reached has been brought to perfection. Everything we discuss and agree on is seen through specific results – new facilities, expansion of existing ones, new initiatives, new ideas. The scope of our cooperation is gradually expanding. Even the composition of my delegation suggests that our cooperation is very multifaceted. At least a third of the Azerbaijani government is in Belarus today. This is an indication of our interest in your country and the projects we are going to implement. As you mentioned, we are actively cooperating within international organizations. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you personally and your country for the support we have received from Belarus in the election to the UN Security Council. We are grateful for this support, we were counting on it and got it. Today Azerbaijan is an active member of the UN Security Council and safeguards the ideals of justice and international law in this organization.

Noting that cooperation is mainly maintained in a bilateral format, the President of Azerbaijan pointed to a high level of relations in the political, economic and energy spheres. President Ilham Aliyev said there was an effective mechanism of mutual relations, which also serves the well-being of the two peoples. Touching upon the activity of Belarusian companies in Azerbaijan, President Aliyev said there were prospects for accessing the markets of other countries together. The head of state also said that trade between the two countries should expand not only in the energy, but also in other sectors.

Noting that the cooperation with Belarus is of interest to Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev expressed his confidence that his visit would give an impetus to the development of relations.