PM: Belarus, Venezuela will implement all agreements, reach new ones

Belarus and Venezuela will not only implement the previous agreements, but will also reach new ones, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said as he met with Vice President, Minister of Planning of Venezuela Ricardo Menendez on 16 July, BelTA has learned.

“Venezuela has always held a special place in our foreign policy, foreign economic interests. We have two great values. The first is friendship between the leaders of our states, and the second is friendship between peoples. This is our great asset. In the current difficult times of geopolitical tension and global turbulence it is crucial to preserve this atmosphere of friendship, trust and mutual assistance,” Roman Golovchenko said.

Both countries are under heavy pressure of external illegal sanctions. “These instruments of pressure have nothing to do with the interests of democracy, human rights or anything else that Western leaders hide behind. Their only goal is to subjugate the countries and peoples who dare to pursue an independent course in both foreign and domestic policy,” the prime minister emphasized.

“During the meeting with the president of Venezuela, despite his busy schedule related to the ongoing election campaign, he said that Belarus and Venezuela would definitely implement not only all the previous agreements, but would also reach new ones,” Roman Golovchenko said.

In his words, a number of landmark projects for Venezuela have been implemented jointly with Belarus in construction, industry, agriculture, military-technical sector. All the projects were launched under Hugo Chavez.

“Unfortunately, some of them have been put on pause recently due to a number of reasons. Therefore, one of the main goals of our delegation's visit is to find mechanisms that would let us restart the projects that are crucial for the Venezuelan economy. We consider them an important legacy of Hugo Chavez. Current president Nicolas Maduro also knows them very well, because from the very first day he took part in their development as Venezuelan minister of foreign affairs,” the Belarusian head of government said.

If for some reason the previous model of their implementation, primarily financial one, cannot work, we need to find another way, he added.

“Today we have already discussed the possibility of increasing mutual supplies of goods. Belarus is also interested in Venezuelan goods, including hot briquet iron, aluminum, coffee, cocoa beans and others. We are ready to offer the equipment and goods that Venezuela needs,” Roman Golovchenko emphasized.

After the official visit to Venezuela, the Belarusian prime minister is set to travel to Cuba and Nicaragua. The goal of the current trip of the Belarusian government delegation is to develop cooperation with faraway countries.