Ilham Aliyev: We will recover from the pandemic quite soon

"Welcome to Azerbaijan, and I wish you a pleasant stay and active work here. In my opinion, there will be a lot to be done because the agenda of our interstate relations is quite broad and covers many areas. In recent years, we have actively cooperated in both the political and economic spheres, as well as in industrial field. Of course, we intend to continue such active interaction," President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said as he was receiving the credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Ravkov, Report informs.

"Most importantly, there are friendly relations between our countries. For many years, these relations have shown great potential and good dynamics. Our frequent contacts at the highest level and mutual visits, of course, have given a great impetus to the development of our relations, and we see good examples of cooperation. It also applies to trade. However, due to the pandemic, there is a decline in GDP and business in all countries.

"Nevertheless, I think we will recover from the pandemic quite soon. In general, in the last years before the pandemic, there was excellent momentum in our trade and economic relations. We observed an increase in the range of goods we import and export.

"Of course, industrial cooperation is an important area of collaboration. There are good examples of Belarusian-Azerbaijani joint ventures in Azerbaijan. We even access the markets of third countries together. I think additional steps will be taken in this direction. Military and technical cooperation, which has been successfully implemented for many years, is an important area. We interact to increase the potential of our military and technical cooperation, including the field of high technology. So the agenda is sufficiently broad. I am confident that you will actively deal with these issues during your stay in Azerbaijan to increase the potential for interaction further. Of course, we will continue to support each other within international organizations, as was the case before. I am sure that such multilateral and multifaceted joint activities will continue to bring our countries closer together. I wish you successful work and a pleasant time in Azerbaijan," the head of state added.