Both leaders welcomed heightened ties with the EU. Baku said it invited the bloc to help with the post-war reconstruction of Azerbaijani lands looted and systematically destroyed during the Armenian occupation.

Uzbekistan ranked 146 out of 180 countries and territories in the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International.

The EBRD loans are targeted towards supporting small and medium sized businesses, women entrepreneurs and green initiatives.

Uzbekistan will receive a $380 million concessional loan from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA), and a $43 million loan from the United Nations-backed Green Climate Fund (GFC), the world’s largest climate finance institution.

Mauro Longobardo, the plant’s CEO, said resource “rent” on iron ore mining would place an insurmountable burden.

Lukashenko, defiant, vowed the "bastards on the other side of the border” would not succeed.