President of Belarus visits the United Arab Emirates

On 31 October 2016 the talks of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan took place in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates where the Belarusian head of state arrived on a working visit a day earlier.

The participants of the meeting discussed the prospects of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, including in the economy, trade, and investment. Joint work and the exchange of experience in the high-tech sector and sustainable development were also on the agenda.

Belarus' Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Roman Golovchenko told reporters that Belarus and the U.A.E. discussed promising projects worth tens of millions of U.S. dollars. The parties devoted a large part of the meeting to the issues on the bilateral agenda, reviewed the status of implementation of the agreements which were reached in the previous meetings. Belarus' President and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi noted the growth of trade between the two countries, primarily the Belarusian export.

“We have been working very closely on the areas and the tasks set out by the head of state before the Belarusian economic entities, and now summarized intermediate results. We are considering important projects in high technology, military-technical cooperation, in science and industry,” the Ambassador said.

He noted that the parties had a detailed and thorough discussion of every project, and promptly gave relevant instructions. “There is a need to accelerate the work on some aspects, change the vector of interaction in some areas. Consideration was given to the contracts that are now at a high degree of readiness,” Ambassador Roman Golovchenko said.

The negotiations also discussed issues on the international agenda, including the situation in the Middle East and in the CIS.

On 1 November 2016 in Dubai Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko met with Vice President, Prime Minister and Defense Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian head of state said: “I thank you for the kind words addressed to me and my nation. In turn, I would like to say that Belarus' doors are always open for the United Arab Emirates and the Emirate of Dubai. I would like to state my key view during our meeting in order to encourage you to visit Belarus more often. We are greatly interested in that. We should advance our economic relations to the level of political ones.” In turn, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum remarked he was glad to welcome Alexander Lukashenko. He stated that the UAE on the whole and the Emirate of Dubai in particular were ready to take relations with Belarus to the next level. “We would like to advance these relations for the better,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also spoke in glowing terms about Belarus and its people.

On materials of BelTA and the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the United Arab Emirates.

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