Belarus, India Presidents to discuss cooperation in Minsk

The agenda of the Belarusian-Indian high-level talks that are due to take place in Minsk in June will include issues on cooperation in petrochemical, mining, mechanical engineering, energy, pharmaceutical areas as well as in science and technology, education and culture, and the military technical sector, BelTA learnt from Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to India Vitaly Prima.

“The two countries have good prospects in every of these areas and we should take advantage of them. For instance, the parties are discussing projects in the petrochemical sector that envisage joint efforts of the two countries in oil development both in India and other countries,” the Ambassador said.

The energy sector is another area of cooperation that is of interest to Belarus and India. “In 2013 the Indian company successfully completed the reconstruction of Grodno CHP Plant No.2. We are in talks with Indian partners on the implementation of joint projects in energy and cooperation in renewable energy,” Vitaly Prima stressed.

In his words, India has a huge industrial potential. It is a country with a well-developed car industry. “Producers of car parts in Belarus and India have already been discussing cooperation. They have already found areas of common interest, outlined joint projects that would be implemented in Belarus with possible attraction of Indian investments. The target market for us is the Eurasian Economic Union,” the Ambassador said.

According to the Embassy of Belarus in India, in January-March 2015 bilateral trade totaled $103.5 million (178.7%), including the Belarusian export of $66.3 million. Belarus posted trade surplus of $29.1 million.

Belarus’ main exports to India in 2014 included potash fertilizers, nylon materials, non-alloy steel wire and fiberglass.