Azerbaijan, Serbia leaders to discuss ways to boost economic ties.

BAKU, May 13 (Itar-Tass) - Ways to boost bilateral economic relations
will be in the focus of attention at talks between Azerbaijani President
Ilkham Aliyev and visiting President of Serbia Boris Tadic.
The Serbian leader arrived in Baku late on Wednesday for the first
official visit and had informal talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart.
The official part of his visit begins on Thursday with talks between the
two leaders at first one-on-one and then in an expanded format, with
participation of governmental delegations of Azerbaijan and Serbia.
It is expected that the sides will consider the whole range of
bilateral relations as well as will discuss the possibility to increase
trade, which was slightly over five million dollars in 2009. Sources in
Baku say the energy sector, metallurgy, mechanical engineering and
pharmaceutics are priorities in cooperation.
The political component of the Azerbaijani-Serbian talks at the summit
level will be rather extensive. Relations between the two countries became
closer after Azerbaijan had refused to recognize the independence of
Kosovo and withdrew its peacekeepers from there.
Belgrade, for its part, supports Baku as to the settlement in the
mostly Armenian populated Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno Karabakh. It is
not ruled out that the sides will consider these issues during political
consultations at the summit level.
Several bilateral agreements are to be signed on the result of the
talks. The program of Tadic's visit also includes talks with Azerbaijani
Prime Minister Artur Rasi-Zade and parliament Speaker Oktai Asadov.

.Vietnam leader in Minsk to discuss cooperation prospects.

MINSK, May 13 (Itar-Tass) - Visiting Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh
Triet will discuss with the Belarussian leadership on Thursday prospects
for the development of Belarussian-Vietnamese cooperation. The president
arrived in Belarus on Wednesday for a four-day official visit.
He is expected to meet with Belarussian President Alexander
Lukashenko. Bilateral agreements will be signed on the result of the
talks, the press service of the Belarussian president said. Nguyen Minh
Triet will also meet with Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky and will take
part in a Belarussian-Vietnamese forum of business circles.
The president of Vietnam will also visit the Belarussian State Museum
of the Great Patriotic War History, the Khatyn war memorial and the
Berezino biosphere reserve.
Minsk considers Vietnam as one of the major political and economic
partners in the Asian region. President Alexander Lukashenko paid official
visits to Vietnam twice - in 1997 and in 2008. Trade and economic
cooperation is actively developing between the two countries. Belarussian
potassium fertilizers, trucks, dump trucks, tractors, tires and bearings
are in demand in Vietnam. Vietnam exports to Belarus rubber, seafood,
rice, nuts, footwear, clothing, tropical fruits, tea, coffee and spices.

.Russia actively participates in anti-piracy efforts: UN envoy.

UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (Itar-Tass) - Russia continues to take an
active part in international efforts in fight against piracy, the first
deputy of Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Alexander Pankin,
said at a session of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.
A successful operation of the Russian Navy on May 6 to free Russian
seamen off Somalia confirms these words, U.N. observers say. Shortly
before that, on April 27, the U.N. Security Council passed at Russia's
initiative resolution 1918, in which it asked the secretary general to
prepare within three months a report on additional measures that could be
necessary for criminal prosecution of pirates.
The events of May 5, when pirates seized the Russian tanker Moscow
University with a crew of 23, have once again confirmed the importance of
Russia's initiative.
Pankin drew attention to topicality of the problem of criminal
prosecution of pirates. Moscow believes it would be necessary to work on
alternatives envisaging the setting up of special judicial divisions, an
international tribunal to try pirates.
Alone in the first quarter of this year, Somali pirates seized 11
vessels, took 194 seamen hostage. Twelve of them were wounded. Their
activity spreads to the coasts of Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles, and
Madagascar. Sometimes pirates attack ships hundreds of miles off Somalia's
coast.
Pankin noted that Russia supports efforts of the president of Somali,
the transitional government to achieve lasting peace and national
reconciliation in the country on the basis of the Djibouti Agreement and
in the interests of the strengthening of security and stability in the
region.
-0-zhe/


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