Azerbaijan may invest in Grodno Azot upgrade

Azerbaijan may invest in the modernization of the Belarusian chemical giant Grodno Azot, as Presidents Lukashenka and Aliyev discussed the project during the talks in Minsk on Monday. The state news agency BELTA reports that Mr Lukashenka mentioned during the meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart that Azerbaijan had recently built an oil refinery plant in Turkey. He welcomed Azerbaijan's interest in the chemical industry sector in Belarus.

"We will be happy to see the arrival of Azerbaijani investors in Belarus and are ready for meaningful interaction in the strategic fields," the Belarus leader said. "We are discussing possible investments by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan in the upgrade of Grodno Azot."

During the talks later with other officials present, Belarus and Azerbaijan declared that they seek to explore the third-country markets jointly. A project to assemble tractors in Turkey with participation of the tractor works from Belarus and Azerbaijan was mentioned during the meeting. Mr Lukashenka said "this kind of initiatives have the future ahead. Hence, we should focus on them."