Boris Batura had a meeting with the parliamentary delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan

      On 12 October 2009 Mr Boris Batura, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, had a meeting with the parliamentary delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan headed by Mr Oktay Sabir Asadov, Chairman of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Mr Vladimir Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Ms Nina Mazay, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Foreign Affairs and National Security, Mr Vadim Popov, Head of the working group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on cooperation with the Parliament of Azerbaijan, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Economy, Budget and Finances, and Ms Irina Parakhnevich, member of this Standing Committee and the mentioned working group, also took part in the meeting.

      The sides discussed a number of questions related to Belarus-Azerbaijan cooperation in the political sphere, exchanged opinions about the state of bilateral trade and economic links and the prospects of inter-parliamentary contacts intensification.

      Mr Boris Batura pointed out the active development of Belarus-Azerbaijan parliamentary relations within the framework of international organizations and expressed gratitude for Azerbaijanian support of Belarus in the international arena. He underlined the necessity of further bilateral interregional cooperation development, which would facilitate the intensification of trade and economic links. In addition to that he proposed to consider the possibility of including the parliamentarians in the Intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. He also pointed out the necessity to strengthen the relations between the parliamentary cooperation groups of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

      Mr Oktay Sabir Asadov in his turn noted the important role of parliaments in supporting the development of the two states in all spheres. He proposed to intensify the interaction between the corresponding committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Chairman of the Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan noted the progress of bilateral trade and economic links development and underlined that the goods turnover between the two states could reach USD 1 billion.

      After the negotiations the sides signed the Agreement on cooperation between the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In accordance with the Agreement the parties are obliged to facilitate the development and strengthening of relations in political, trade, economic and other spheres of bilateral interest. The document defines the spheres of interaction for elaborating the legal framework that would allow to effectively address such global challenges and threats as international terrorism, arms, drugs and precursors trafficking, organized transnational crime, illegal migration, human trafficking. The parties to sign the Agreement were: Mr Boris Batura, Chairman of the Council of the Republic, and Mr Vladimir Andreichenko, Chairman of the House of Representatives — from the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus; Mr Oktay Sabir Asadov, Chairman of the Milli Mejlis — from the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.