BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/03/2007

Belarussian president to visit Vietnam

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko will pay an official visit to Vietnam from Mar. 25-27 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet, the Foreign Ministry has announced.

This will be the second Vietnam visit by the Belarussian President in the past decade after the first in April 1997. Since then the two countries have exchanged many high-level delegations.

During the visit to Vietnam, President Lukashenko was scheduled to hold talks with President Nguyen Minh Triet and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, meet with National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong and pay a courtesy visit to Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

Diplomatic, economic ties

Belorussian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorski visited Vietnam in 2004, and Chairman of the Republic Council of the Belarussian parliament G. Noviski followed suit in 2005.

The latest visit to Vietnam by a Belarussian official, Deputy Foreign Minister Viktar Gaisenak, took place in October 2006.

Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong visited Belarus in 1998, followed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in 2000, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh in 2002 and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An in 2003.

Economic-commercial relations between the two countries saw remarkable development in recent years. Two-way trade turnover in 2006 was US$49.4 million, $7 million higher than 2005.

Vietnam exports natural rubber, rice, seafood, tea, cashew nuts to Belarus and imports potassium fertilizer, trucks for mining, tractors and automobile spare parts from the country.

However, bilateral economic-commercial relations remain modest, not matching the two countries' potential and political relations.

In December 2005, the Vietnam-Belarus Inter-Governmental Commission on Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation held a meeting in Hanoi.

The two sides exchanged views on expanding cooperation in economy, commerce, industry, energy, agriculture, oil refinery as well as education and training.

Source: VNA

Source:

http://www.thanhniennews.com/politics/?catid=1&newsid=26286