Minister Shava leads delegation in Belarus

Mukudzei Chingwere

Herald Reporter

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Fredrick Shava is in Belarus leading the Zimbabwean delegation for the implementation of several areas of cooperation agreed between Zimbabwe and Belarus when the two Presidents met early this year.

Belarus President Lukashenko was in Zimbabwe in January where several commitments were made with President Mnangagwa for joint cooperation between the two countries.

Minister Shava yesterday met his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Aleinik and is due to meet President Lukashenko.

“I have just held a very fruitful meeting with my Counterpart, Honourable Sergei Aleinik, during which we discussed our co-operation and bilateral and at international level,” said Minister Shava.

“I will have the honour to meet His Excellency President Lukashenko and Deputy Prime Minister Honourable Petr Parkhomchyk to review the Belarus-Zimbabwe co-operation. In addition, I shall have the privilege of touring major Belarusian industrial enterprises.

“Officials from my delegation will, on their part, have an opportunity to meet with their counterparts to discuss ongoing projects in their sectors and to explore new areas of cooperation.

“The objective of this visit therefore is to deepen our bilateral ties through strengthening existing co-operation in the various sectors, identifying new sectors for co-operation and identifying trade and investment opportunities. Our visit is also significant as it coincides with the official opening of the Zimbabwe Embassy in Belarus. “We look forward to increased bilateral exchange visits and economic, trade and technical collaboration,” said Minister Shava.

Minister Aleinik said they discussed several areas of cooperation which include health, mining and agriculture as a follow-up to the meeting of the two Presidents.

“The breakthrough achievements agreed between our two Presidents will allow us to bring our cooperation to a whole new level,” said Minister Aleinik.

“One of such achievements was the opening of the embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe in the Republic of Belarus.

“All the formalities related to that process have been completed and right now we can officially announce the official start of its operation.

“We have considered in detail the implementation of trade and investment cooperation, in particular the execution of supplying Belarusian agriculture equipment, firefighting equipment, the construction and modernisation of granaries,” said Minister Aleinik.