Egyptian delegation visits Belarus to pursue cooperation efforts

CAIRO – 12 March 2017: Egypt’s Minister of State for Military Production General Mohamed El Assar left for Belarus Sunday on a visit to promote bilateral relations between the two countries in diverse industrial fields, the ministry’s

official Facebook page

reported.

Assar will be accompanied by representatives from the ministers of water resources and irrigation, communications, investment and international cooperation and trade and industry.

“Egypt is Belarus’s gate to North Africa,” national Russian television network

Russia Today

(RT) reported Saturday, explaining that Assar’s visit comes as a follow-up to the agreements made by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in January.

“Egypt is about to sign several cooperation agreements with Belarus,” RT said.

Lukashenko met with President Sisi in Cairo in January on the occasion of 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. They signed nine agreements and memorandums to promote the cooperation between Egypt and Belarus in different fields such as environmental protection, agriculture, industry and trade.

Lukashenko further stressed his country’s support for the creation of a free trade zone between Egypt and the Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, according to

Ahram Gate

.

Several initiatives have been made to promote the relations between the two countries since then.

Assar witnessed in February the signing of a protocol between the National Organization for Military Production, the Belarusian Company MAZ and El Dawlia Company for Engineering & General Contracting. The protocol states a cooperation agreement in the joint manufacturing of heavy transport vehicles, Daily News Egypt reported.

Belarusian experts will also participate in the establishment of an agribusiness factory in Egypt’s Alexandria,

according to the Belarusian Telegraph Agency

(BELTA). The project will include “a dairy farm for 3,000 cattle, a greenhouse facility for growing vegetables, dairy and meat-processing divisions that will use Belarusian meat and dairy materials.”