Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 2 December (BelTA) – Belarus and the European Union have a good political moment for fulfilling their cooperation potential, Commercial Counsellor at the Italian Embassy in Belarus Ugo Boni told BelTA.

Speaking about the Belarusian-Italian relations, the diplomat noted that today there are good prospects for their development despite the ongoing economic crisis. “There is also a very good political moment. I believe that today we have the right moment to fulfill the potential of cooperation between Belarus and the European Union and Italy in particular,” he said.

Ugo Boni emphasized the recent intensification of contacts between Belarusian and Italian businessmen. In his words, somewhere in February-March 2016 the intergovernmental Belarusian-Italian commission on economic cooperation that was set up five years ago will hold its first meeting. It is expected that on Italy’s behalf the commission will be co-chaired by Vice Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Development Carlo Calenda. The program of the meeting will include a business forum.

“We hope that this business forum will be attended by Italian businessmen who do not do business in Belarus and who will visit Minsk and other Belarusian cities to get familiar with doing business conditions for foreigners. In my opinion, there is a strong potential and good conditions here and very few in Italy know about it. Our goal is to spread this knowledge among our businessmen,” the diplomat said.