MINSK, 18 October (BelTA) – Experts from Belarus and India will meet in Geneva to finalize the bilateral protocol on Belarus' accession to the World Trade Organization. Such an arrangement was reached during the visit of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Andrei Dapkiunas to India, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Andrei Dapkiunas met with Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, curator of the Belarusian-Indian cooperation Chhotu Ram Chaudhary. The parties agreed on arranging a meeting of experts from Belarus and India in Geneva in the near future to harmonize the text of the bilateral protocol on Belarus' accession to the World Trade Organization,” the press service noted.
Andrei Dapkiunas emphasized the importance of ensuring equal and fair terms for BelAZ' participation in the tender of Coal India Limited, a state-controlled coal mining company, that seeks to buy machinery for the Indian coal mining industry. Taking into consideration the favorable terms envisaged by the agreement on mutual protection of investment signed in September 2018, the parties discussed plans to set up a Belarus-India manufacturing and investment cluster in the village of Bolbasovo in Vitebsk Oblast.
Andrei Dapkiunas met with India's Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to discuss a possibility to arrange visits of Indian government delegations to Belarus in 2019. The parties reaffirmed their commitment to maintain intensive high-level interstate contacts for successful implementation of promising joint projects, first of all, in trade, manufacturing and investment. “India's Minister of External Affairs shared her plans to pay a visit to Belarus,” the press service noted.
Apart from that, Andrei Dapkiunas met with heads of Belaz-Enrika Mining Equipments, Expotech International Ltd., SRBH Motors Pvt. Ltd., and NRV Solutions to discuss the state and prospects of implementing joint projects, existing barriers hampering closer cooperation in economy and trade between the two states and ways to increase the efficiency of business-to-business and business-to-government cooperation.
