News Desk |
President Mamnoon Hussain has said that Pakistan gives immense importance to its relations with Belarus. He was talking to Pakistan’s Ambassador designated to Belarus, Lina Saleem Moazaam, who called on him in Islamabad on Monday. The President noted that both the countries enjoy deep fraternal ties and said that Pakistan desires to further enhance its relations with Belarus in the fields of industry, agriculture and trade.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resultant conception of Belarus in 1991, Pakistan has been one of the first countries to give it proper recognition and build relations. Belarus established its diplomatic relations with Pakistan on 3 February 1994. During the first two decades, contact between both the countries remained conservative, that is, a handful of encounters at the ministerial level – mostly during the late 1990s.
An agreement was also reached to build a mechanism of yearly visits to both the countries in order to stay updated and maintain consensus on regional and international issues.
However, since then, amidst several reciprocal visits of the Prime Ministers in both the countries, Pakistan and Belarus inked a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their multifaceted ties particularly in the areas of trade, commerce, education and culture. Belarus houses a Pakistan embassy in Minsk, while Pakistan maintains a Belarus embassy in Islamabad.
The two nations have also adopted a programme document called ‘Roadmap for fast-track and middle-track economic cooperation between Pakistan and Belarus’. Current successful exports from Belarus to Pakistan range all over from agriculture to industry and preserved foods.
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These include tractors and spare parts, trucks, potash fertilizers, synthetic fibre tows, tires, machine tools, polycarboxylic acids, newsprints and dry baby foods. On the other hand, Pakistan exports to Belarus, food products like rice, vegetables and fruits, leather goods and materials, textiles, sports equipment, surgical instruments and manicure sets.
From 2015 to 2017, Pakistan unmistakably became Belarus’s preferred partner in South Asia. During a meeting in Beijing, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenka, called Pakistan Belarus’s ‘best friend’. The two countries also exchanged visits of parliamentary delegations in 2017.
Both sides agreed to increase cooperation in the areas of exchange of parliamentary delegations and secretarial staff, create Friendship Groups within both the parliaments and promote close interaction between the members of the Friendship Groups. An agreement was also reached to build a mechanism of yearly visits to both the countries in order to stay updated and maintain consensus on regional and international issues.
Also, while talking to the outgoing Ambassador of Greece, Dimitrios Zoitos, in Islamabad on Monday, President Mamnoon Hussain said that Pakistan enjoys close relations with Greece. He stressed for further promotions of relations with Greece in the fields of industry, trade and communications to give rise to a new dynamic between both the countries.
President Mamnoon made a similar statement, late in 2014, upon meeting with the Ambassador of Greece, at Aiwan-e-Sadr. While reminiscing long-term bilateral ties, the President appreciated Pakistani relations with Greece in terms of trade, economy and commercial relations, with hopes to further strengthen said ties on mutual trust and goodwill.