Belarus honours Azerbaijani singer N.Akiyeva with Slavic Hope award

Azerbaijani performer Nafisa Akiyeva, a participant in the Vitebsk 2026 International Song Contest, has been awarded the Belarusian president's special Slavic Hope prize.

The award was presented by Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister and Chair of the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk festival's organising committee, Natalya Petkevich, Caliber.Az reports, citing Belarusian media.

During the ceremony, Petkevich praised the festival's enduring legacy and expressed gratitude to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for preserving and developing the event over the past 35 years.

"One thing I will never tire of saying is how grateful we are to our president for preserving this festival 35 years ago, reviving it, and lifting it to a level that would be incredibly hard, if not impossible, to outdo. Thank you for giving millions of viewers and TV audiences such a magnificent celebration during these July days. Thank you for making this stage a launchpad for so many pop singers. Thank you for turning this festival into a meeting place for different art forms here, on the home soil of Chagall, Pen, and so many other legendary figures. May our festival see many more anniversaries. I wish us all that in another 35 years, we’ll gather in this hall again, maybe a little renewed, for yet another anniversary, and in the same company," Petkevich said.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov