ISLAMABAD: Belarus has expressed interest to undertake joint ventures in private sector for military-related manufacturing and assembling endeavours, besides setting up plants to assemble automobile parts, buses, tractors and grain harvesters in Pakistan.

Belarusian Minister for Industries Vitaly Vovk held a meeting with the Minister for Industries and Production, Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi, here on Tuesday, and sought ministry’s recommendations for private sector companies to enter into joint ventures for military-related manufacturing and assembling.

Supporting the idea, Mr Jatoi invited the Belarusian industries minister to undertake an inspection visit to the Heavy Mechanical Complex in the outskirts of Islamabad to get a better understanding of the present infrastructure available in Pakistan.

The industries minister also suggested the viability of private sector joint ventures and offered that his ministry would assist the Belarusian government in identifying projects for collaboration by private sectors of the two countries.

The industries minister asked his Belarusian counterpart to initiate the process of preparing a free trade agreement with Pakistan to streamline promotion of trade.

The Pakistan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and the Belarus Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) signed here on Tuesday an agreement to form a joint business council to facilitate exchange of trade delegations between the two countries.

The agreement was signed by FPCCI President Mian Idrees and BCCI President Mikhail Miatlikov at the conclusion of trade-related negotiations between members of the two chambers.

Belarusian ministers for oil and gas; textiles; light and industry and over 50 business leaders now visiting Islamabad as part of Belarusian president’s visit to Pakistan, also attended the meeting at FPCCI.

Separately, the chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Vladimir Gusakov held a detailed meeting scientists and academicians belonging to different scientific disciplines to explore the fields of cooperation between the two countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Gusakov urged the scientists to work out details of fields and projects wherein the two countries can benefit from each other’s experiences.

President of Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Dr Anwar Nasim said that there was a great scope of cooperation between the two countries in the fields of science and technology, and the two academies can cooperate in exploring this potential.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2015

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