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Belarus to Continue All-Round Relations With China
Belarus
regards China as its strategic partner and is prepared to continue
developing all-round co-operation with China, said Alexander Lukashenko,
President of Belarus, at recent meeting with Wen Jiabao, the Premier of the
State Council of the People’s Republic of China, who paid an official visit
to the country.
“We are
proud of our relations with China which is demonstrating amazing
achievements in all fields,” said the President of Belarus during the
closed-door talks.
Alexander
Lukashenko said that Belarus established relations with China during the
period when China was experiencing certain difficulties and was “standing up
from its knees”. “Probably, over the 15-year period of our diplomatic
relations China has ascertained that Belarus is a reliable friend for the
Chinese people and the state. I would like to assure you that our country
will remain committed to this course,” the President said.
Alexander
Lukashenko has thanked the Chinese leadership for the political, economic
and diplomatic support for Belarus.
The Premier
of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China has stressed that,
for China, Belarus is one of the foreign policy priorities.
Belarusian-Chinese relations are based on the principles of mutual respect
and equality, this is why they will stand any test, said Wen Jiabao. He also
expressed the hope that the current visit will promote a wide-ranging
exchange of views on bilateral and international issues and will give an
impetus for strengthening Belarusian-Chinese friendship.
As a result
of the talks, bilateral documents estimated more than $530 million have been
signed. Among them are the intergovernmental framework agreements on China’s
granting Belarus a buyer credit to the amount of $500 million for the
purchase of three cement production lines and a lax credit to the tune of
$27 million.
Prime Minister of Belarus Visits the Republic of Korea
On November
5-6, Sergei Sidorsky, Prime Minister of Belarus, paid an official visit to
the Republic of Korea.
During the
visit Sergei Sidorsky had meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun and Prime
Minister Han Duck-soo. The meetings focused on the issues related to the
trade and economic cooperation between the two states.
As the
Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea noted after the talks, the
trade-economic relations between Belarus and South Korea would be developing
at a qualitatively new level.
In his
words, opening of the South Korean embassy in Belarus at the end of 2007 and
a KOTRA representative office in Minsk would promote the Belarusian-Korean
cooperation.
The Prime
Minister of South Korea affirmed that the two parties intended to cooperate
in mechanical engineering, radio electronics and power engineering. In
addition, South Korea intended to support Belarus in accessing to the World
Trade Organization.
The Prime
Minister of Belarus in his turn pointed out that Korean companies were to
take part in projects on reconstructing petrochemical manufactures of
Belarus. “Belarus has held talks with several Korean companies that intend
to participate in the reconstruction of the petrochemical production and, in
particular, in the paraxylene production project,” Sergei Sidorsky said.
Besides,
Korean companies expressed readiness to participate in the cord thread
production in Belarus. The two sides showed interest in mutual railway
communications, i.e. transport routes between the Asian-Pacific region and
Europe via Belarus.
The sides
signed intergovernmental agreements on air communication, on cooperation in
culture, on mutual visa-free trips of holders of diplomatic and service
passports as well as a memorandum of understanding between the State Customs
Committee of Belarus and customs service of South Korea related to
informatization and computerization, and a memorandum of understanding on
cooperation in standardization.
During the
visit Sergei Sidorsky also met with leadership of the Korea Trade-Investment
Promotion Agency, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, LG Group, LG.Philips LCD.
UNCTAD Praises Belarus’ Development Pace
Belarus is
one of the most rapidly developing CIS states, occupying 57th position in
UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Index (TDI).
UNCTAD
experts singled out the high indicators of economic and social welfare of
individuals and the registered growth of foreign trade. The indicators
landed Belarus on the 34th position ahead of all the CIS states and several
countries in Central Eastern Europe. The facts are presented by UNCTAD’s
publication “Developing Countries in International Trade 2007: Trade
Development Index” which is available at
http://www.unctad.org.
The Trade
and Development Index’
main
purpose is to help governments participate more effectively in the global
economy and benefit from international trade via progressive economic
advance, new jobs and better living standards of the people. This year’s TDI
covers 123 countries, includes 11 components and 34 separate indicators.
Belarus
Elected Member of UN Environment Program Governing Body
At a
plenary session of the 62nd UN General Assembly Belarus was elected a member
of the Board of Governors of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Three
vacant seats given to the countries of the Eastern-European Group were
gained by Belarus, Hungary and Croatia. Under the rotation scheme approved
within the framework of the Eastern-European Group the Republic of Belarus
will be a member of the UNEP Board of Governors from 2009 till 2011.
UNEP is
composed of representatives of 58 countries from five regions of the world.
Members of the Board are elected by the UN General Assembly. UNEP was
founded in 1972. Its main goal is to provide leadership and encourage
partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and
enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without
compromising that of future generations. Being a UN main body in the
environment sphere UNEP draws up a global ecological program, promotes the
implementation of the environmental sustainable development projects within
the UN framework and protects natural environment of the globe. UNEP is
headquartered in Nairobi (Kenya).
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