Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Belarus seek to expand the scope of partnerships and promote relations in various economic, political and cultural areas.
Therefore, this visit of President Aleksandr Lukashenko of the Republic of Belarus and his meeting with His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik represent an important step in boosting the partnerships in different areas, especially in the economic, commercial and investment fields.
The exchange of official visits between the two sides reflects the joint keenness to develop and strengthen bilateral relations.
In this context, Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus made a visit to the Sultanate of Oman and met with a number of officials last October.
He also held a meeting with some Omani businesspeople, during which they explored areas of the economic and investment cooperation, in addition to inking some Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs).
Moreover, Alexei Bogdanov, Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade of the Republic of Belarus visited Oman last August. During his visit, a business forum was held between the two sides, in addition to signing a number of MoUs.
Hamoud Salim Al Tuwaih, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to the Russian Federation and non-resident to the Republic of Belarus pointed out that the visit of the Belarusian President to the Sultanate of Oman will explore means of promoting relations in various spheres, in addition to addressing a set of regional and international issues.
He told Oman News Agency (ONA) that this visit would contribute to expanding areas of economic cooperation between the two countries, whether through augmenting the volume of trade exchange or investment in strategic sectors such as renewable energy, green hydrogen, heavy industries, and technology.
He explained that the two countries have signed many memoranda of understanding and agreements in various areas, including: an agreement to encourage and protect investment, an agreement on economic and trade cooperation, a memorandum of understanding for political consultations, an agreement to avoid double taxation, an agreement on cooperation between the chambers of commerce in the two countries, agreements on trade and economic cooperation and mutual protection of investments, among others.
The two countries look forward to providing the tourism sectors with new visions that aim at promoting the tourism potentials of Oman and Belarus, affirmed Ambassador Hamoud.
He pointed to the cultural and academic cooperation between the two countries, as they signed a loan contract to organize a temporary exhibition with the National Historical Museum and inaugurated the Belarus exhibition "At the Crossroads of Civilizational Communication" in 2018 in Muscat.
In return, the "Oman Day" exhibition and events were inaugurated in 2019 in Belarus. The Belarusian Cultural Week was also held in Muscat in 2020, the ambassador added.
It is worth to mention that the diplomatic relations between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Belarus were established on 23 July 1992. There were continuous visits between the officials of the two countries as the President of the Republic of Belarus paid an official visit to the Sultanate of Oman in April 2007.