Belarus’ parliamentary visit to China expected to give new impetus to bilateral cooperation

The recent parliamentary visit to China will give a new impetus to bilateral cooperation, Chair of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Natalya Kochanova told reporters, BelTA has learned.

Belarus’ parliamentary delegation led by Natalya Kochanova was on an official visit to the People's Republic of China on 27-30 May. During the visit, meetings were held with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China Zhao Leji, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China Han Zheng, President of the All-China Women’s Federation Shen Yiqin. The first session of the Belarus-china High-Level Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee took place.

“Senior members of Belarus’ parliament have not visited China for a long time. Inter-parliamentary contacts were discussed during the visit of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to China in March 2023. It was decided that we should come to China on an official visit. We were invited by Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China Zhao Leji to thrash out cooperation plans,” noted Natalya Kochanova.

The speaker recalled that in 2023 an inter-parliamentary cooperation agreement was signed by the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the National People's Congress of China. Belarus-China High-Level Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee was established. Its first meeting took place during the parliamentary visit.

“We discussed quite a big number of issues, primarily the legislative agenda where we compared notes. We saw that a lot has been done in China. This pertains, first of all, to the adoption of laws to preserve the sovereignty and independence of China, laws on non-interference in internal affairs, and laws on shielding the country against sanctions. It was interesting for us. We have also adopted a number of legislative acts that enable us to address such issues. We also compared our approaches in legislative activities,” the speaker emphasized.

Much attention was paid to economic cooperation. “Our cooperation with China has been developing fruitfully in absolutely all areas for more than three decades. The Belarus-China Partnership 2030 plan will be signed soon. We discussed these issues, listened to our counterparts about how China is developing, and identified key areas for our cooperation. Humanitarian cooperation through public associations is also very important for us. We discussed this matter at the High-Level Committee meeting; we will promote this cooperation and make sure that our all-weather, comprehensive strategic partnership will become even more efficient. Everything is in place for this,” Natalya Kochanova emphasized. “I am confident that this visit will give renewed momentum to our cooperation. The exchange of delegations and parliamentary cooperation will reach a new level,” she noted.