Official talks with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif held official talks in Islamabad on 26 November.

Before heading to the residence of the prime minister of Pakistan, Aleksandr Lukashenko held a protocol meeting with Deputy Prime Minister - Foreign Minister  Mohammad Ishaq Dar. In accordance with the official protocol of Pakistan, the foreign minister briefed the Belarusian President on the key points of the visit program and the state of bilateral relations.

Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the Belarusian leader at the entrance. The talks were preceded by a photo-op and an official greeting ceremony with the participation of the guard of honor. The national anthems of the two countries were performed.

After that Aleksandr Lukashenko and Shehbaz Sharif planted a tree on the territory of the residence before heading to a narrow-format meeting that will be followed by a broader-participation meeting attended by the two delegations.

The parties thrashed out plans to scale up mutually beneficial cooperation with a focus on trade and economy. Aleksandr Lukashenko and Shehbaz Sharif discussed the most promising areas of cooperation and a joint action plan.

"We are not a giant country and we have never been prone to megalomania. But we were part of the Soviet Union, which was a high-tech country. From it we inherited good technologies that we have recently built on. I am sure that the technologies that we possess will find their use in Pakistan," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

According to him, the parties agreed to take stock of relations and get better acquainted with each other's capabilities. "I invite your ministers and specialists, heads of companies to come to Belarus, take a look at our capabilities and see what they need. There are no closed topics," the President said.

The head of state also expressed gratitude to the prime minister of Pakistan for taking control of the supply of Belarusian engineering goods. "You know that we can supply you with the necessary volumes of food, including baby food," Aleksandr Lukashenko added. “We agreed that after our meeting in the expanded format, our ministers will negotiate and agree on specific plan of action. Let's assume that the industry minister can agree with his counterpart on further actions."

The President instructed Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov to take this work under control. The head of state set the task to develop proposals from the Belarusian side and submit them for consideration. "I just want all ministers in my delegation bring back if not a portfolio of interesting projects  then at least one or two ones from Pakistan. All trips must be productive. We need practical steps. Therefore, ministers need to meet face to face today, tomorrow, as much as you need, but reach agreements," the Belarusian leader stressed.

He stated that Belarus and Pakistan have excellent political relations, but trade and economic cooperation is developing slowly, despite the fact that the countries need each other. 

"We are very interested in your proposal for a transport corridor, especially now. We heard you about visa-free travel. The minister of foreign affairs knows our policy very well. I think that we will not have any special problems here either," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.