10 accords to be signed during Azerbaijan leader's visit to Belarus

"The key document, to be signed in Minsk by Presidents Ilkham Aliyev and Alexander Lukashenko, is the friendship and cooperation treaty between Azerbaijan and Belarus," , Novruz Mamedov, public relations chief with the administration of the Azerbaijani leader told Itar-Tass.

"It's a framework document expected, to firm the legal groundwork of bilateral relations," he noted.

The diplomats of the two countries are continuing to work on the draft agreements which will be finalized by the Azerbaijani-Belarussian top-level meeting. A high-placed official in the administration of the Azerbaijan president said these documents will regulate bilateral ties in the political, economic, and humanitarian spheres.

Mamedov also noted that President Aliyev will hold talks with other Belarussian leaders in the course of his visit.

It is the first trip by the head of the Azerbaijani state to Belarus since the two countries gained independence.

Baku believes that it will give an impulse to the development of relations between the two countries, and contribute to the shaping of reliable legal and contractual groundwork of Azerbaijani-Belarussian cooperation.

A Belarussian Foreign Ministry official told Itar-Tass that Ilham Aliyev is planning to visit the Minsk car-making plant and the Minsk tractor maker, as well as the National Library.

In the opinion of Belarussian experts, one of the main objectives of Ilham Aliyev's visit to Minsk is the strengthening of top-level political contacts.

The visit will also contribute to the stepping up of Belarussian-Azerbaijani trade and economic partnership and the development of bilateral ties in the humanitarian sphere.

The parties are expected to touch upon such issues as purchases of Belarussian agricultural equipment and machinery, and the arrangements to launch an assembly line in Azerbaijan to produce Belarussian tractors.

Belarus and Azerbaijan reached an accord ahead of Aliyev's visit on the necessity of concluding a bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of provision of pensions, and coordinated a draft document on cooperation in the sphere of physical culture and sports.