Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus A.Dapkiunas visits India

18-10-2018

On October 17, 2018 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Andrei Dapkiunas, held a series of meetings with the heads of Indian government organizations and the Indian business community.

At the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of India, Sushma Swaraj, the sides discussed the possibilities of organizing high-level visits of representatives of the Government of India to Belarus in 2019.

The parties noted the importance of maintaining the intensity of bilateral interstate contacts at a high level for the successful implementation of promising projects of Belarusian-Indian cooperation, especially in the areas of trade, production and investment. A.Dapkiunas presented positive results of the political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of Belarus and India, which took place the day before, and the Belarusian side’s vision of the main directions of development of bilateral cooperation. Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs informed about her intention to visit Belarus.

At the meeting with the Minister of Trade and Industry of the Republic of India and the Co-Chair of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission for Cooperation in the Field of Economy, Trade, Industry, Science, Technology and Culture, C.R. Chaudhary, the sides reached an agreement to hold in Geneva in the near future an expert meeting regarding the text of the bilateral protocol on the accession of Belarus to the World Trade Organization. The Deputy Minister noted the importance of ensuring equal and fair conditions for the participation of BelAZ in the tender of the state-owned company Coal India for the procurement of equipment for the needs of the Indian coal mining industry.

Taking into account the favorable conditions created by the agreement on the mutual protection of investments signed in September 2018, the necessary measures to promote the creation of a Belarusian-Indian industrial investment cluster in Bolbasovo (Vitebsk region) were discussed.

During the visit, the Deputy Foreign Minister also met with representatives of a number of Indian companies and joint ventures that actively cooperate with Belarus.

During the conversation with the leaders of “Belaz-Enrika Mining Equipments”, “Expotech International Ltd.”, “SRBH Motors Pvt. Ltd.” , “NRV Solutions” the state and prospects for the implementation of joint Belarusian-Indian projects, the existing obstacles to the expansion of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries and the possibilities for enhancing the effectiveness of B2B and B2G interaction were discussed.

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