Lukashenka intends to visit Iran soon

The dictator is planning to visit Iran in the near future.

He made the statement at the meeting with Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif on 17 February, BelTA has learned.

Lukashenka remarked that during the forthcoming visit he is going to focus on the economic dimension of Belarus-Iran relations.

“Our political, diplomatic relations are at the very high level; but the economic relations need to be improved. Therefore, during the visit we will focus on the economy. And the program of the visit should include events aimed at promoting economic ties,” he said.

Lukashenka emphasized that Belarus is open for cooperation with Iran. In his words, Iran's investments to the Belarusian economy are a testimony to that. In particular, Iran has injected over $600 million in Belarusian projects. The Belarusian President emphasized that there has been a certain slowdown in the implementation of these projects recently due to a number of objective reasons despite the Belarusian side always tried to meet Iranian partners halfway and to create the best conditions for their activities. “I would like to assure you that we will be always committed to our agreements and will do our best to create good conditions for our partners in Belarus,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

“We have difficult time. Both Iran and Belarus are subject to external influence; your country faces sanctions in a number of fields. The same was and still is true for our country. Nevertheless, in this situation we can show an example of cooperation between the states,” he believes.

The foreign minister of Iran, in turn, extended greeting from Iran President Hassan Rouhani to Lukashenka and said that he is looking forward to the visit of the Belarusian head of state. Mohammad Javad Zarif also emphasized that Belarus and Iran need to advance economic relations to a brand-new level.