Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 29 November (BelTA) – There is a need to intensify the work of the friendship groups in the parliaments of Belarus and Georgia, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said as he met with outgoing Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Belarus David Kotaria, BelTA has learned.

According to the speaker, over the years that David Kotaria worked in Belarus as minister counsellor at first and then as Ambassador a lot has been done to boost the trade between the two countries. Several visits have been organized, including at the highest level. Vladimir Andreichenko believes that this gave a decisive impetus to the development of cooperation in various fields, including trade and economic cooperation and the inter-parliamentary ties.

However, the Chairman of the House of Representatives expressed the view that the friendship groups in the two parliaments are ineffective. They are not proactive. “Probably we need to take some measures because the activity is low,” Vladimir Andreichenko said.

He also recalled that interesting cultural events are scheduled for 2018. Among them will be the return Georgian Culture Days in Belarus. Recently Tbilisi hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, with a Belarusian representative among it participants. “We will be happy to host your country's delegation in 2018 (Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Minsk – note by BelTA), learn from your experience as we did when preparing to host the 26th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,” the speaker noted.

Belarus and Georgia established diplomatic relations in January 1994. The legal framework of the Belarusian-Georgian bilateral relations comprises 47 documents. In 2012-2016, Belarus' export to Georgia surged 1.5 times to reach $57.5 million. The uptrend remains intact in 2017, too: Belarus' export in January-September 2017 rose by 23.7% from the same period a year prior to $59.4 million.