Venezuelan Foreign Minister: we intend to restart trade and economic relations with Belarus
Belarus and Venezuela intend to restart trade and economic relations in the near future – as stated by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Eduardo Gil Pinto, commenting on the results of his today’s meeting with the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko
The Foreign Minister of Venezuela noted that his visit to Belarus turned out to be very fruitful: a number of important meetings were held and, most importantly, there were negotiations with the Belarusian leader. “We agreed to restart our bilateral relations in the trade, economic and industrial spheres. We intend to do this in the near future,” he said.
A regular meeting of the joint commission on trade and economic co-operation – scheduled to be hosted by Minsk on November 28th-29th – is expected to become the first step along this line of co-operation. The event will be attended by representatives of ministries, departments, heads of enterprises of both countries, who will outline the areas for the future work to focus on.
Yvan Eduardo Gil Pinto said that he talked with Aleksandr Lukashenko about the prospects of bilateral co-operation in energy, tourism, agriculture and a number of other areas, “We will make every effort not just to restart our bilateral relations, but to bring them to an even higher level. We have a very close and fruitful work ahead, we are focused on further developing not only political contacts, but also strengthening trade and economic ties.”
Answering a question from journalists about the work of the two countries under sanctions pressure, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister stressed that Western sanctions are ‘absolutely illegitimate and have a criminal nature’, “Of course, these sanctions have had a negative impact on trade and economic relations, on the one hand. On the other hand, they strengthened us in the opinion that we should work closely together. These sanctions have once again shown us that only through joint efforts we can ensure joint progress. This is what we have agreed on, and we will do so in the near future.”
