BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/05/2007

Iran's Ahmadinejad defiant during state visit to Belarus

Minsk - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defiantly spoke out against states pursuing 'hegemony' Tuesday on the second day of a state visit to the former Soviet republic of Belarus.

'We (Iran and Belarus) will not submit to the pressure that some countries have placed on us,' Ahamdinejad. 'The future belongs to those peoples, that want to be free.'

Belarus and Iran are among Washington's most outspoken international opponents, and have been targeted by the White House for economic sanctions.

Economic cooperation treaties signed between Iran and Belarusian leader Aleksander Lukashenko on Monday and Tuesday are proof that US efforts have failed, Ahamdinejad argued.

'Countries that follow a policy of hegemony, have no future, and they (the hegemonic countries) will be forced to yield to the will of our nations,' he said.

'We are against a unipolar world, and a system applying double standards against us,' Ahamdinejad added, in an anti-US barb.

Representatives from Tehran and Minsk during Iranian leader's visit signed agreements for joint energy development, normalized financial relations, and cultural exchange.

The deals will increase trade between the two countries from 38 million dollars seen in 2006, to as much as a half a billion dollars, Lukashenko predicted.

'There is no issue that we did not find a common language on,' Lukashenko said at a joint press conference with Ahamdinejad. 'These agreements are mutually profitable for Belarus, and for Iran.'

Neither leader made public reference to possible arms sales from Belarus to Iran; a project enthusiastically supported by Lukashenko as a prop to Belarus' substantial, but unprofitable arms industry.

An international arms exhibition including companies from much of the former Soviet Union, and salesmen from Asia and Africa, opened its doors in Minsk on Tuesday as well.

Ahamdinejad's presence in Minsk at the time of an international weapons fair, was a calculated message to Iran's critics that Tehran was able to obtain arms on the international market if it needed them, according to a Bel-1 television news report.

Lukashenko in remarks to media singled out Iranian willingness to open its energy sector to development by Belarusian technicians, in exchange for which Belarus would improve its ability to purchase oil and gas on the international market.

Belarus' since the beginning of the year has been in tightened straights, because of a Russian decision to double oil and gas prices to Belarus, forcing Lukashenko to look for fuel for his country elsewhere than from the Kremlin.

'We are very grateful to our Iranian friends for their understanding on this point,' Lukashenko said.

Source:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1307755.php/Irans_Ahmadinejad_defiant_during_state_visit_to_Belarus