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Lukashenka, Maduro agree to develop roadmap for Belarusian-Venezuelan relations

 

Belarus and Venezuela will soon develop a new roadmap for the expansion of bilateral relations, Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced Wednesday in Minsk following talks with Nicolas Maduro.

“You and I have made the main decision that we should accelerate the dynamics of the relations, make a review all problems and issues that exist and existed before and, as a result, come up with a new roadmap for the development of relations,” the Belarusian leader said, according to the government’s news agency BelTA.

According to Mr. Lukashenka, a Belarusian-Venezuelan commission will hold a meeting in Minsk on August 4 at the latest with a view to generating specific proposals regarding the roadmap and then the proposals will be submitted for consideration by the presidents of Belarus and Venezuela.

Mr. Lukashenka pointed out that the implementation of the roadmap would be closely monitored by the two presidents.

“We view this first official visit of Nicolas Maduro as a confirmation of intent to develop strategic partnership between our countries,” Mr. Lukashenka said. “This idea permeated our talks today. We are determined to fulfill everything that we planned to do.”

Belarus treasures the friendly relations with Venezuela, which is one of the most influential and authoritative countries in Latin America, Mr. Lukashenka noted. “We have a lot in common, including the same attitude to international problems,” he said.

“We agreed that a lot had been done and that was not much compared with what we should do,” he said.

According to Mr. Lukashenka, the president of Venezuela has set the government the goal of diversifying and modernizing the national economy. “We can provide significant assistance and take part in this gigantic historic process,” he said.

Belarus would like Venezuela to be its foothold in Latin America, Mr. Lukashenka noted. “That was our plan when Chavez was alive and I am grateful to the President of Venezuela for his promise to support me in this regard,” he said.

The further expansion of relations is beneficial to both countries, Mr. Maduro said, noting the importance of cooperation in machine-building and oil and gas production.

“The late President Chavez was a generator of ideas and a great advocate of strengthening comprehensive cooperation with Belarus,” he said. “Now we are beginning a new stage and should achieve new successes on this path. You can rely on us and consider us true friends and followers of Hugo Chavez.” // BelaPAN