Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 22 March (BelTA) - Belarus and Tajikistan should seek new ways to expand trade and economic relations, Chairman of the Council of the Republic Mikhail Myasnikovich said as he met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Tajikistan to Belarus Mahmadsharif Haqdod, BelTA has learned.

“We would like to see more interesting collaborative projects. We need to look for new modalities of work,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich. In his view, the traditional mechanisms that are used in trade relations do not always work efficiently. Trade cooperation must be complemented with an investment component. “We need to establish joint industrial enterprises, service companies. When we have joint business, common interest, then we will see our trade increase,” he noted.

The speaker considers that in order to achieve greater effect, the two countries need to involve the monetary-lending system and urged to seriously consider the ways to intensify collaboration in the financial sector.

As regards the political relations with Tajikistan, they are at a quite a high level, Mikhail Myasnikovich said. The speaker noted the highest level of trust between the leaders of the two countries. “We are grateful to your country, your political leadership for support of Belarus in the international arens, various international summits, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and other international organizations. We feel this support and really appreciate it,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

There is a need to intensify cooperation between the parliaments. The inter-parliamentary groups of friendship are a good tool to both work remotely and exchange delegations. It is important to launch new projects in the economic and social sectors.

Mikhail Myasnikovich urged to develop regional cooperation. “We need to make a greater use of the regional potential,” he said.

Belarus and Tajikistan have developed good relations in education. The universities of the two states are implementing joint educational programs to train specialists for the national economy. Mikhail Myasnikovich views the joint training of top scientific personnel as promising.

Mahmadsharif Haqdod echoed Mikhail Myasnikovich’s opinion that the countries maintain long-standing friendship, trust-based relations and mutually beneficial partnership, which adds a strong impetus to every area of cooperation. As for the trade and economic relations, the ambassador noted that there are reserves for growth. These issues were discussed at the meeting of the Tajikistan-Belarus intergovernmental commission in Dushanbe. Very soon Tajikistan will host an exhibition of Belarusian products. “We are interested in setting up joint companies to produce farming equipment, joint processing of agricultural products, first of all, milk and meat. We are also interested in importing Belarusian products,” Ambassador Mahmadsharif Haqdod said.

Friendship and mutual understanding and also a well-developed legal framework help the states continue developing fruitful relations in all the areas, the ambassador added.