BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/04/2008

Belarus President to pay state visit

HA NOI - The President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will pay an official visit to Viet Nam from April 7-8 at the invitation of President Nguyen Minh Triet.

The visit aimes to enhance Belarus' co-operation with Viet Nam as well as learn from Viet Nam's experiences in economic devel opment and renewal.

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

Viet Nam and Belarus established diplomatic ties in January 1992. The two sides have exchanged visits by many high-level delegations, including visits to Viet Nam 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 co-operation between Viet Nam and Belarus has developed in recent years on the strong legislative basis of important co-operative documents.

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

Two-way trade between Viet Nam and Belarus reached $US75 million in 2007, a year-on-year increase of 51 per cent. Viet Nam chiefly exported seafood, wood-based products and processed fruits and vegetables while importing fertilizers, motorbikes and tractors from Belarus. - VNS

Source:

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02POL020408

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