A live broadcast of a meeting between the Presidents of Belarus and Georgia in the Palace of Independence will begin in a few minutes. The Georgian leader’s first official visit to Belarus started yesterday. Today’s negotiations will be opened with a solemn welcoming ceremony with a red carpet, the Honour Guard and the anthems of the two countries.
Alexander Lukashenko and Giorgi Margvelashvili will also hold an expanded meeting to discuss a wide range of issues related to bilateral relations development with priority to trade and economic cooperation.
The Georgian President arrived in Minsk late last night. His schedule includes meetings in the Government and Parliament. Giorgi Margvelashvili is also planned to meet with the teachers and students of the Belarusian National Technical University and visit the Great Patriotic War Museum and the Mound of Glory memorial complex.
Today’s narrow and expanded format talks are expected to focus on intensifying trade and economic cooperation. One of the main tasks of such high-level meetings is to establish the widest range of relations between the two countries’ agencies, enterprises and businesses and use mutual trade potential to the maximum.
Following the welcoming ceremony, the two Presidents proceed to the Palace of Independence for a joint photoshoot, which is part of the formal procedure. After that, Alexander Lukashenko and Giorgi Margvelashvili enter the Mantelpiece Hall of the Palace to start negotiations. The topics have been outlined beforehand with a focus on trade and economic cooperation. In general, the politicians are expected to discuss a wide range of bilateral cooperation development issues.
Belarus and Georgia plan to switch to industrial cooperation with plans to set up two joint enterprises to assemble tractors and elevators. The volume of Belarus-Georgia mutual trade has grown by 60% over the past year, approaching 100 million dollars. 125 new commodities have been included in Belarusian exports.
The Belarusian and Georgian leaders agreed to increase the bilateral trade turnover to 200 million dollars during Alexander Lukashenko’s visit to Tbilisi in April 2015. Control over numerous joint projects is exercised by the countries’ Governments. Belarus is home to about 20 joint ventures and the same number of companies with Georgian capital. Another step towards rapprochement was the opening of Belarus’ Embassy in Tbilisi late last year.
The negotiations’ details and results will be covered in news releases on the TV channels Belarus 1 and Belarus 24. An overview of the Belarus-Georgia dialogue will be presented in Panorama at 21:00.
