BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
25/11/2009
Qatar and Belarus boost ties
Qatar and Belarus yesterday signed minutes of their first Qatar-Belarus Joint Committee meeting.
HE the Minister of State for International Co-operation and Acting Minister of Business and Trade, Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah signed the minutes for the Qatari side, while the Minister of Trade of Belarus, Valentin Chekanov, signed it for his country.
The minutes identified a general framework of a roadmap to strengthen bilateral co-operation at various levels, especially the economic and scientific sides through the exchange of visits aimed to explore various investment opportunities.
At a press conference held on the sidelines of the meeting, al-Attiyah said the two sides intended to establish a company and a fund to promote the economic co-operation and had agreed to set up concrete projects during the next three months.
He pointed out that major conventions on bilateral co-operation had entered into force for a long time and paved the way to hold the First Qatar-Belarus Joint Committee's meeting.
Responding to a question about Qatar's intention to invest in Belarusian companies, planned to be privatised, the minister said that a number a Qatari groups were scheduled to visit Belarus and study opportunities in the public sector as well in the companies governed by Law No. 10 of 2008.
Speaking about the possibility of opening Qatari bank branches in Belarus, al-Attiyah said that this point would be discussed at the Qatari and Belarusian businessmen associations.
The Minister of State for International Cooperation said the work with the Republic of Belarus was still in the framework of bilateral agreements.
For his part, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, Vladimir Semashko, who said that the signing of the minutes was achieved thanks to the two countries' political wills under the wise directives of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko .
Semashko noted that oil and petrochemicals were the most important fields in Belarus, adding that his country produced 25mn tonnes of oil a year and exports 75% of its oil production.
On the co-operation in industrial technology with Qatar, Semashko said Belarus was looking forward to co-operating with Qatar in various domains.
He said he had a meeting with Qatar's Prime Minister to discuss the aspects of oil co-operation.
He also said that the two sides would jointly establish a company and fund to support their projects.
The Belarusian minister also announced that both countries were considering a plan to activate co-operation in agricultural.
On the sidelines of the Qatar- Belarus meetings, the Association of Qatari Businessmen and Belarus Chamber of Trade and Industry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for establishing a joint business council
Source:
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