BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/05/2007

Belarus President Visits Azerbaijan

The Associated Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made his first official visit to Azerbaijan on Wednesday, bringing together the leaders of two countries seeking to lessen their energy dependence on Russia.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev said his country _ seeking to diversify ways to bring its Caspian Sea oil to Western markets _ supports a plan to pump oil across Ukraine and into Poland via the Odessa-Brody pipeline, a route that would bypass Russia.

"We have given our political support for this project, and now commercial issues are being discussed," Aliev said at a news conference with Lukashenko. Belarus borders Ukraine, and Lukashenko has expressed interest receiving oil through the pipeline.

Belarus and Azerbaijan have both clashed with Russia recently over energy prices, straining relations between Moscow and the two former Soviet republics. Azerbaijan opted out of Russian gas imports this year after Russia sought to more than double the price, and disputes between Minsk and Moscow resulted in a drastic increase in the price Belarus pays for Russian natural gas and a decrease in the profits that Belarus can expect from the sale to Europe of oil products its refines from Russian crude.

Aliev held out the prospect of energy supplies to Belarus, saying that Belarusian companies were interested in participating in oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan and that talks would be held in a bid to flesh out cooperation plans. When Aliev visited Belarus late last year, Lukashenko expressed interest in a share in the development of Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea oil and gas resources.

Azerbaijan will produce 300 million barrels of oil this year and 350 million barrels next year, Aliev said Wednesday.

In a dig at Russia, which he has accused of using energy as a political lever against him, Lukashenko said he was certain that cooperation with Azerbaijan "will not prompt any political pressure or political consequences, as often happens with other countries."

Aliev and Lukashenko signed a largely symbolic Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between the two countries.

Source:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4769108.html

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