BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/04/2008

Vietnam, Belarus to enhance ties

VietNamNet Bridge - Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko will make an official visit to Vietnam from April 7-8.

The visit, to be made at the invitation of Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet, looks to enhance Belarus' cooperation with Vietnam as well as learn from Vietnam's experiences in economic development and renewal.

The second visit by a Belorussian President over the past decade, it is also aimed at seeking opportunities for cooperation and boosting economic ties between the two countries.

Vietnam and Belarus established diplomatic ties in January 1992. The two sides have exchanged visits by many high-level delegations, including visits to Vietnam by Belorussian President Lukashenco in April 1997, Prime Minister Sergey Sidorsky in November 2004 and the National Assembly Council of the Republic Chairman Gennadi Novitsky in May 2005.

Meanwhile, President Tran Duc Luong, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An made visits to Belarus in August 1998, September 2000, October 2002 and January 2003, respectively.

The friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Belarus has developed in recent years on the strong legislative basis of important cooperative documents.

In 2007, the two countries signed six cooperation agreements on air transport, science, recognition of academic degrees, product standards, judicial cooperation, and culture and art.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Belarus reached 75 million USD in 2007, a year-on-year increase of 51 percent from 2006. Vietnam chiefly exported seafood, wood-based products and processed fruits and vegetables while importing fertilizers, motorbikes and tractors from Belarus.

Source:

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/politics/2008/04/776347/

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