Latin America ready to expand liaisons with Belarus
The Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, Valery Mitskevich, visited Panama to participate in the 36th General Assembly of the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO) and his report there caused a wide response among Latin American parliamentarians
As reported by the press service of the House of Representatives, a number of national delegations present at the Assembly expressed their solidarity with the people of Belarus, while demonstrating a convergence of positions in assessing the current international situation and confirming their readiness to jointly resist the policy of dictate, double standards and sanctions.
A range of bilateral meetings took place, and Latin American parliamentarians showed great interest in Belarus’ economic opportunities and prospects for deepening comprehensive friendly ties with the country. During the talks, they highly appreciated the results of a large-scale national dialogue organised in Belarus in order to develop a strategy for socio-political transformations. None of the Assembly participants seemed indifferent to the topics of the Great Patriotic War and protection of the historical truth with an aim of preserving peace on the planet – as touched upon in his report by Mr. Mitskevish.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Secretariat of the MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) Parliament, expressed interest in finding common ground and ways to develop relations between parliamentary structures of Latin America and Belarus. During the Assembly work, the sides informed each other on the opportunities and advantages of their markets. A proposal was made to exchange visits and consider a possibility of signing a co-operation agreement between the National Assembly of Belarus and the MERCOSUR Parliament.
In a similar vein, Mr. Mitskevich met with a Mexican politician – Blanca Alcala – who headed PARLATINO in 2015-2017, and also Silvia Giacoppo who represented Argentina and was elected the organisation’s Chairperson during the Assembly.
The Chairperson of the Colombian House of Representatives, Jennifer Arias, invited the delegation of Belarusian Parliament to pay an official visit to Colombia and, for her part, also expressed interest in visiting Belarus. The sides discussed possible avenues of mutually beneficial economic co-operation. It was noted during the talks that Colombia – which is home to 50m people – is a promising market for the sale of Belarusian products and an important venue for promoting national interests.
In turn, the Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Mustafa Shentop, showed much interest in expanding comprehensive co-operation and organising a visit to Belarus, noting that Turkey views Belarus as a guarantor of stability in the region.
Meetings with representatives of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba proved productive as well. A dialogue with them will continue this week – as part of Mr. Mitskevich’s official visit to Cuba.
