Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday held a meeting with the businesspeople accompanying him on his three-day official visit to Belarus. During the meeting, they discussed the prospects of economic cooperation and making Pak-Belarus Business Forum an opportunity to exploit business potential between the two countries.
The meeting deliberated on exploring the possibility of joint ventures between the business houses of the two countries. It was agreed that there existed a lot of common grounds for moving forward in the areas of trade, investment and industrial cooperation.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived here on Monday on a three-day official visit to explore new avenues of cooperation with a particular focus on cooperation in energy, trade and defence.
A warm reception was accorded to the Prime Minister as he alighted from his special aircraft at the Minsk International Airport.
Flags of Pakistan and Belarus fluttered atop the airport building and a red carpet was rolled out.
The visit to the Eastern European country, on the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko, is the first ever visit by a Prime Minister of Pakistan to Belarus.
The President of Belarus, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister received the Prime Minister and his delegation at the airport.
The entire route from the airport to the Presidential Palace was decorated with flags of Pakistan and Belarus. An official welcome ceremony was later held at the Presidential Palace.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his delegation were warmly received by President Lukashanko at the Independence Palace, the office of the President. The Prime Minister was presented a guard of honour by the contingents of the Belarusian armed forces.
National anthems of the two countries were played and the two sides introduced members of their respective delegations. The two leaders posed for a photograph before heading for the talks.
The Prime Minister will hold exclusive and delegation level talks with the the Belarusian President, meet the Prime Minister, the Chairman of the Council of Republic (upper house) and the Chairman of the House of Representatives (lower house) during his stay.
He is also scheduled to visit industrial units and attend a ceremony at the Belarusian State University where he will be conferred the title of Honorary Professor. The landlocked former state of the Soviet Union that neighbours Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, is spread over an area of 207,600 sq km, and has a population of 9.466 million, of which 83.7 percent is Belarusian, while 8.3 percent with Russian ethnicity. Belarus is known for its well established industrial units of metallurgy, mechanical engineering, including tractors and agricultural, cars, machine-tool constructing and tool industry.