Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 October (BelTA) – Belarus’ policy towards building an IT country may help make Belarusian-Swiss relations stronger. The statement was made by Filippo Lombardi, President of the External Policy Committee of the Council of States of the Swiss parliament and co-president of the Switzerland-Belarus parliamentary friendship group, on the air of the TV channel Belarus One, BelTA has learned.

A Belarusian delegation held negotiations in the Swiss parliament, an association of cryptocurrencies, and the Zug city administration where new technologies, including virtual ones, are widely used. The Swiss side spoke highly of Belarus’ accomplishments in the area of information technologies.

Filippo Lombardi said: “We welcome Belarus’ policy towards [building] an IT country. It can become a flagship in the Eurasian Economic Union. It will help make our bilateral relations stronger because Switzerland also bets on new technologies.”

Margareta Kiener Nellen, head of the Swiss delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and co-president of the Switzerland-Belarus parliamentary friendship group, mentioned the strong interest of the Swiss side in Belarus. “We are ready to advance the relations so that they could be tighter and more productive. During the talks we also paid much attention to the development of Belarus’ legislation in the area of information technologies,” the MP said.

The sides intend to arrange a session of the business cooperation council as well as consultations between representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs in Switzerland by the end of the year.