Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held talks in North Korea’s capital on Thursday and signed a friendship and cooperation treaty as the two Russian allies draw closer in the face of their confrontations with the U.S.-led West.

Lukashenko, who was in Pyongyang on a hailed the document as “fundamental,†and said that relations between the two countries are “entering a new stage,†according to his press service. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Friday that the leaders discussed boosting high-level cooperation and visits and exchanged their views on unspecified “international and regional issues of mutual concern.â€

The Associated Press