Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 27 November (BelTA) - Belarus and Azerbaijan have the potential to increase mutual tourist flows, President of the Azerbaijan Export and Investments Promotion Foundation (Azpromo) Rufat Mammadov said prior to the Belarus-Azerbaijan business forum, BelTA has learned.

"I know that many Azerbaijan citizens come to visit Belarus, and not only Minsk. Azerbaijan and Belarus can increase the mutual tourist flows because both countries have something to show to each other,” said Rufat Mammadov.

A memorandum of cooperation in tourism was signed by Belarus’ largest tour operator Tsentrkurort and the Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association. "The company that signed the agreement from our side is one of the largest tourist services providers in Azerbaijan. I think this document will give an additional impetus to the flow of tourists,” said Rufat Mammadov.

According to the Azpromo president, there are a lot of other promising areas of cooperation. Among them is cooperation in agriculture and agro-industry, mechanical engineering, pharmaceutics, and the financial sector. “IT should be mentioned as well. This area is actively developed in Azerbaijan and, perhaps, it will become one of our main economic sectors. I believe the same is true about Belarus. Here there is a big potential for cooperation development and mutual interest from both the countries,” said Rufat Mammadov.

The Belarus-Azerbaijan business forum in Minsk is held within the framework of the official visit of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev to Belarus. The business forum considers the promising avenues of the trade, economic and investment cooperation. Talks have already been held to discuss the opportunities for cooperation and joint projects in engineering, petrochemistry, metallurgy, construction and architecture, agriculture, software development, transport, and tourism. The event is attended by more than 40 companies of Azerbaijan.