Lukashenko arrived to Tehran on official visit. Why two states are of interest to each other
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko has arrived in Iran on an official visit: the Head of State’s plane landed at Mehrabad International Airport, BelTA reports
photo: www.president.gov.by
This is the Belarusian President’s third visit to Iran: his last one took place seventeen years ago.
Aleksandr Lukashenko will hold talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on March 13th. Earlier, during a meeting on the side-lines of the SCO summit in Samarkand on September 16th, 2022, the two leaders instructed their foreign ministries to inspect relations and intensify them.
Topics for Lukashenko’s discussion with the leadership of Iran
"The talks in Tehran will focus on the development of co-operation across the entire range of bilateral relations, with an accent on trade and economic liaisons. The presidents will meet in narrow and expanded formats, with participation of the delegation members. Implementation of projects in the fields of industry, agriculture, transport and logistics will be discussed, and special attention will be paid to the situation in the region and in the world as a whole,” the Belarusian leader’s press service has informed.
In Iran, Aleksandr Lukashenko is also scheduled to meet with First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Chairman of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei.
The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Iran, Dmitry Koltsov, has told BelTA that Belarus is ready to strengthen not only a full-scale political dialogue with Iran, but also to develop trade and economic ties and joint investment projects. He called economic co-operation a key area of interaction.
Belarus-Iran level of trade
In 2021, the bilateral trade turnover exceeded $33m – rising more than a third against the 2020 figures. Over the past year, the level of trade increased even more significantly: in 2022, Belarus and Iran traded $100m, demonstrating a threefold growth.
Belarus helped Iran with supplies of machinery and equipment, also welcoming Iranians to study in the country. In addition, Belarusian specialists were involved into the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bushehr.
Areas of Belarus-Iran developing co-operation
According to Mr. Koltsov, Belarus is ready to continue expanding liaisons, having jointly identified promising projects with Iran in such areas as industrial and technological co-operation, digital transformation and artificial intelligence, green economy and climate adaptation. "We have already been actively working on a number of these areas," the diplomat said.
The improvement of the North-South international transport corridor infrastructure contributes to the revival of mutual trade. "The two states’ participating organisations are working out optimal ways and conditions for the delivery of goods," Mr. Koltsov noted.
The 7,200km-long North-South transport corridor runs from the Indian port of Nhava Sheva, in the south of Mumbai, to St. Petersburg via Iran. Sea, river and rail transport is used for transportation, and the main advantages over other routes (in particular, the sea route through the Suez Canal) include a two-fold or greater reduction in the distance of transportation, as well as a lower cost of transporting containers compared to the cost of sea transportation.
Belarus, Iran restore regular flights
According to Mr. Koltsov, regular flights play an important role in maintaining direct business, scientific, educational, cultural, and tourist exchanges. "Direct flights will soon be launched between the capitals of our countries. A direct flight will certainly become a powerful factor for expanding bilateral economic co-operation,” he said.
The signing of a comprehensive roadmap for extensive co-operation between Belarus and Iran is expected to become a central event of the visit. The document was developed as a follow-up to the agreements reached by the heads of state during their meeting in Dushanbe in September 2021.
