BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/05/2007

Iranian president to visit Belarus Monday

MINSK, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will arrive in Belarus Monday on an official two-day visit to talk energy and trade cooperation with the ex-Soviet state.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visited the resources-rich Islamic Republic last November seeking to diversify its energy sources and reduce dependence on Russia.

Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by Washington for his crackdown on democracy and human rights and denied travels to the U.S. and EU, has also been exploring possibilities of energy cooperation with other oil-exporting countries, such as, Azerbaijan and Venezuela following an energy row with Russia early this year.

The delegation of Belarus moved in November to back Iran in a long-running international dispute over its nuclear program.

"We have no reasons to doubt the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program," Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov said, adding that Iran had always been a strong supporter of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran is under UN economic and diplomatic sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used in nuclear weapons production. Tehran claims it is only after electricity generation.

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/world/20070518/65697635.html