BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/05/2007

Iran's President Visits Belarus

By Yuras Karmanau

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with President Alexander Lukashenko, an authoritarian leader who has been courting other vehement opponents of Washington.

"'We have huge potential (for cooperation) in the long-term perspective,"' Ahmadinejad said in televised comments upon arriving at Lukashenko's headquarters. "'The strengthening of relations between Belarus and Iran fosters support for regional and global security."'

Lukashenko said Belarus is "'ready for cooperation in all directions."'

He told Ahmadinejad that "'relations between Belarus and Iran have reached the level of strategic partnership,"' according to the presidential press service. The Iranian leader, meanwhile, said he considers Lukashenko one of his best friends.

Belarus' Foreign Ministry said last week that the main issues to be discussed during Ahmadinejad's two-day visit involved energy, trade and science. The Iranian was expected to tour Belarusian enterprises and a national library.

Ahmadinejad's delegation included the foreign minister, commerce minister, lawmakers and the director of an Iranian auto company, Belarusian officials said.

Lukashenko, who visited Iran in November, is widely referred to in the West as "'Europe's last dictator"' for stifling government opponents and independent news media in the former Soviet republic of 10 million. The Belarusian economy remains largely under Soviet-style state control.

Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who became president in 2005, is locked in a standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear program, which the United States and other nations fear is a front for an effort to develop atomic weapons. He praised the visiting Lukashenko in November as a "'brave and powerful"' leader for opposing U.S. policies.

Iran is under U.N. Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, while Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials have been hit with U.S. and EU travel bans and financial sanctions as punishment for strangling freedoms.

A year ago, Lukashenko hosted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, another vocal U.S. critic, who made Belarus the first stop on a tour that also took him to Russia, Iran and Vietnam. Belarus has close ties to neighboring Russia, but they have been frayed in recent years by disputes over energy prices and supplies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Monday that the standoff over Iran's nuclear program should be resolved through dialogue, and that international efforts must focus only on preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

"'We consider any attempts to isolate Tehran or to use the situation surrounding Iran's nuclear program to achieve any other goals ... to be extremely counterproductive and shortsighted,"' Lavrov said in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Russia has used its clout in the U.N. Security Council to water down Western-proposed sanctions against Iran and has warned the United States that overly harsh measures could backfire by deepening Tehran's defiance.

Source:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20070521/belarus-iran.htm