Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 29 September (BelTA) – The National Assembly of Belarus is interested in establishing closer relations with the Latin American Parliament, Speaker of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said as he met with a parliamentary delegation from Brazil on 29 September, BelTA has learned.

The Speaker stressed the importance of cooperation between Belarus and Brazil at the level of inter-parliamentary organizations, noting that representatives of the two countries meet within the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on a regular basis. “The National Assembly of Belarus is interested in establishing closer contacts with the Latin American Parliament, an authoritative and honorable organization which comprises the National Congress of Brazil. In this respect we have submitted a draft agreement to our partners to consider the possibility of granting an observer status to the Belarusian parliament in the Latin American Parliament. We ask you to support the initiative,” said Vladimir Andreichenko.

In his words, the development of all-round relations with Brazil is among the priorities of Belarus’ foreign policy in Latin America. “Despite the fact that our countries are geographically far away from each other we hope for a considerable intensification of our mutual relations in every area of mutual interest,” the Speaker of the House of Representatives said.

According to Vladimir Andreichenko, the Presidents of Belarus and Brazil met at the BRICS summit in July 2015. “We believe that the agreements that were reached during the meeting are a basis for further cooperation,” said the Speaker. In his words, the Belarusian MPs will do everything necessary for bilateral cooperation to correspond to the reached agreements.

The Chairman of the House of Representatives passed the warmest wishes to President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil Eduardo Cunha. “In April 2015 we sent him an invitation to pay an official visit to Belarus. I would like to confirm that this invitation remains in force,” Vladimir Andreichenko noted.

In turn, Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress of Brazil Fernando Giacobbo thanked the Belarusian side for a good organization and an interesting program of the visit. Thus, during the visit the delegation visited a number of Belarusian companies. “We are fully satisfied with the visit. I am confident that our countries will be able to implement all the agreements reached by the Presidents of Belarus and Brazil,” he said.