Afghanistan and Belarus Sign Economic Agreements, MoUs

AVA-   Afghan and Belarusian officials have signed an agreement for an economic commission and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for joint judicial, economic and commercial cooperation, the CEO's office said in a statement late Wednesday.

    The CEO of the National Unity Government Abdullah Abdullah has been on a three day official visit to Belarus and discussed economic cooperation between both countries.

    “We have signed an agreement for the formation of an economic commission,” Abdullah said after meeting with the Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov and added “this commission will have regular meetings for better trade and economic relations between both countries.”

    In the meantime time Belarusian officials have said that their country is ready to participate in the implementation of major projects in the production sector and the power engineering industry of Afghanistan.

    "We suggest defining possible forms and mechanisms of getting Belarus involved in the implementation of major infrastructure projects in the manufacturing sector, mining industry, and power engineering industry in Afghanistan,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

    "First of all, I am talking about the organization of shipments of construction materials, the relevant equipment and machines, including their integrated maintenance services."

    He said that Afghanistan is now busy implementing infrastructure projects, which are large scale, not only from the country's point of view but for the entire region.

    He added that “Afghanistan is busy building power lines, gas pipelines, and hydropower plants. Belarus is ready to actively participate in these and other projects on mutually beneficial terms."

    Belarus also suggests stepping up the bilateral cooperation in agriculture. Apart from food, Belarus is ready to sell technological goods and equipment to Afghanistan.

    For instance, Belarus offers internationally recognized grain and forage harvesters, tractors and mounted and towed equipment. They may be useful for Afghanistan's agriculture, said Kobyakov.

    Belarus also said that their country is ready to share its technologies and equipment for producing and processing meat, milk, fruits, and vegetables with Afghan partners. Mutually beneficial cooperation can be established in education, science, and technology.

    "These are but a few of the promising avenues of Belarusian-Afghan cooperation. Building relations is a two-way street, this is why we are ready to consider concrete counter offers of Afghan partners in all spheres of mutual interest," Kobyakov said.

    Abdullah thanked the Belarusian side for the warm welcome and expressed readiness to discuss a broad range of matters.