BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/07/2006

Venezuela's Chavez to visit Belarus July 22-24

MINSK, July 17 (Itar-Tass) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit Belarus on July 22-24 at the invitation of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, a source at the country's foreign ministry said on Monday.

This will be the first-ever meeting of the two countries' presidents, the source said.

Belarus and Venezuela maintain political contacts, mainly at the level of foreign ministers.

Belarussian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov and his Venezuelan counterpart Ali Araque met in New York back in September 2005. Araque had visited Belarus twice since.

Belarussian-Venezuelan bilateral trade is low. In January-April, there were no Belarus' export to Venezuela and import made up several thousands U.S. dollars.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=10634083&PageNum=0