Iran VP, Belarusian PM stresses expanding economic ties

The Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber held a meeting followed by a joint press conference with Roman Golovchenko, the Prime Minister of Belarus, who arrived in Tehran on Tuesday at the head of a Belarusian delegation.

In the joint press conference on Tuesday afternoon, the first vice president of Iran said, “Iran and Belarus have needs that can be mutually met through cooperation.”

Mokhber considered banking and financial cooperation as a prerequisite for all economic and commercial agreements, adding that “Good understandings have been made between the two countries for the development of banking cooperation, and it is necessary to finalize these understandings as soon as possible and prepare the ground for the use of the local currencies in commercial transactions.”

Considering that Belarus is also under sanctions by other countries in the world, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to provide Belarus with its experience in handling the country’s affairs under the sanctions, Mokhber said

Emphasizing that the two countries’ will is to improve mutual relations, the first vice president said, adding the political relations between Iran and Belarus are at a good and acceptable level, but the economic relations are not proportional to the political relations, and the necessary agreements between the two countries to improve the trade relations have not been made.

The Prime Minister of Belarus, for his part, said “In today’s meetings, solutions to resolve obstacles and advance economic cooperation have been adopted so that we can significantly improve the volume of trade exchanges and the level of economic relations between the two countries.”

Referring to the drafting of the economic cooperation road map between the two countries, Golovchenko stated, “This road map has been prepared for implementation during the years 2023 to 2026, which is a comprehensive document that specifies the solutions for the development of economic cooperation in all sectors.”

He added, “All the countries that have been under illegal and oppressive pressures and sanctions can engage in commercial exchanges by cooperating and thus get out of the sanctions.”

Emphasizing that the Republic of Belarus is ready to improve its cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all fields, the PM said, “On this trip, a window has been opened for the relations between the two countries so that we can strengthen the economy of the two countries and lead our nations to greater prosperity.”

MNA