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“Despite the fact that we maintain active contacts, we have no basic agreements: on investment promotion and protection, on trade, economic, scientific, and technical cooperation. We need to draft such basic economic agreements, adopt, and ratify them in Parliaments,” Mikhail Myasnikovich believes.

He welcomed progress in the development of interparliamentary cooperation between the two countries and expressed confidence that it will be even more active if the parliamentary friendship groups work effectively. “Not as a substitute to high-level contacts, but as an instrument of addressing specific issues,” said.

Another area of special importance is regional cooperation, Mikhail Myasnikovich said. “Thailand is a big country with quite developed regions. Our regions and cities could be good partners for your regions. It is not always possible to effectively solve the issues that are of regional interest at the level of the capital cities,” he stated.

Mikhail Myasnikovich believes it is necessary to harmonize the trade regulations. “Thailand’s tariff policy makes it difficult for Belarusian goods to make their way into the Thai market. Belarus offers more comfortable conditions for goods from Thailand. If we are friends, we must harmonize the conditions for mutual trade,” he said.

Mikhail Myasnikovich also put forward a proposal to resolve visa issues to encourage more Belarusians to visit Thailand. “Today the citizens of Russia, Poland, Estonia have an opportunity to travel to your country without visas. Citizens of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia can get visas upon arrival at the airport. Citizens of Belarus need to apply for a visa at the embassy in Moscow. It takes a lot of time and money. Therefore, we ask to facilitate the visa requirements. We are friends, and we should create conditions for tourism,” the speaker believes.

Peerasak Porjit, in turn, thanked Mikhail Myasnikovich for the meeting. In his words, all the proposals of the Belarusian side will be considered and decided in a way to benefit the two countries and peoples. “The National Legislative Assembly of Thailand closely cooperates with the government, therefore we will consider all the topics that we discussed today,” Peerasak Porjit promised.