Belarus, India to boost bilateral ties: Sumitra

Lok Sabha Speaker  Sumitra Mahajan, who is leading an Indian Parliamentary Goodwill Delegation to Belarus, called on  Belarusian President Mr. Alexander Lukashenko. Both leaders discussed issues of mutual concern and expressed firm commitment to strengthening already warm and friendly relations.

The Speaker mentioned  that India and Belarus are time-tested friends and said that the good feelings between the two countries need to be supported by enhancement in commercial and economic cooperation.

She said that Prime minister  Narendra Modi’s use of the term “Security” at the SCO Summit implies not merely territorial security but also security in other areas including economy.  She added that the Government of India is well aware that our defence cooperation with Russia has always included Belarus and its production facilities in the background.  “We are keen on furthering this relationship by establishing joint ventures in the fields of mutual interest and benefit,” she said.

 She also talked about  the SMART cities programme of India and said that the Belarusian technology for not just SMART transportation but also SMART water, electricity, sewage disposal and green buildings would be very welcome.

 Lukashenko emphasized the need to give a firm direction to the India Belarus bilateral relations so that they may evolve in the right manner in the future. He said that the two countries already have convergent views on most issues and support each other in all multilateral fora, but their commercial relations definitely need a further push. Promoting joint ventures and mutual investment is the way forward.

In a lighter vein, Mr. Lukashenko mentioned that he had informed Modi, on the sidelines of SCO meeting,  that half of Belarus’ population is already into YOGA and  he himself was planning to start.