Opinions & Interviews

The current visit is the first, in the history of bilateral relations, official visit of the Pakistan Parliament leadership to Belarus. Mikhail Myasnikovich expressed confidence that the visit will contribute to the development of the Belarusian-Pakistani parliamentary interaction. He noted that Belarus is satisfied with the status of the bilateral cooperation, especially in the last two years when the two countries have been engaged in an active dialogue. At the same time, Belarus would like to see more efficient work of inter-parliamentary friendship groups, more active interregional contacts and closer cooperation in international organization.

Bilateral trade of $1 billion by 2020 is an ambitious yet achievable goal. “I would like to discuss the possibility of giving state preferences to Belarusian and Pakistani companies in order to boost trade and investment activities. We would also like Pakistan to consider reducing the import customs duties on freight and passenger vehicles. It would be interesting to hear your opinion on this as the Parliament regulates these matters to a certain degree,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said addressing his counterpart from Pakistan.

Belarus is also ready to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan in science and to encourage young people to participate in this process. “The Council of the Republic believes that education, science, technology transfer and know-how are promising areas for our cooperation,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

Moreover, Belarus would like to participate in infrastructure projects that Pakistan is implementing together with China. “Many of our companies have relevant expertise. We could be useful partners,” said the speaker of the upper house of the Belarusian Parliament.

The development of the legal framework of the Belarusian-Pakistani cooperation is considered as another important area of interaction. The parties agreed that it is necessary to speed up the ratification of the agreement on mutual protection of investments with a view to strengthening the legal framework of cooperation and promoting industrial cooperation.

Speaker Mian Raza Rabbani expressed confidence that the current visit to Belarus and the meeting in the Council of the Republic will be the first step towards closer parliamentary cooperation between Belarus and Pakistan. “I would like to invite the Chairman of the Council of the Republic and a Belarusian parliamentary delegation to visit Pakistan at any time convenient in 2017,” he said.

The parties are expected to sign a joint statement of the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus and the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, a memorandum of understanding between the Secretariat of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus and the Secretariat of the Senate of Pakistan on strengthening parliamentary cooperation.