OREANDA-NEWS. January 23, 2009.The Belarusian-Czech intergovernmental agreement on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation was signed in Minsk on January 22.

The document was signed by Charge D'affaires Ad Interim of Belarus in Czech Republic Vasily Markovich and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Milan Govorka.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Valery Voronetsky told media, the agreement outlines the legal framework for systematic and active promotion of the bilateral cooperation. “It is most important that we have determined strategic avenues of cooperation, which will allow signing a lot of contracts and implementing various investment projects,” he said. An agreement was reached that the first session of the intergovernmental commission, which will discuss all aspects of cooperation, will take place this spring. “We witness the beginning of a new phase in relations between Belarus and Czech Republic not only in the area of economic cooperation, but also in the political dialogue, scientific, technical, and cultural spheres,” underscored Valery Voronetsky.

In turn, Milan Govorka remarked that the intergovernmental agreement is an important signal for Belarusian and Czech companies informing them that they can rely on government support in their projects. According to the head of the Czech delegation, there are very many areas the sides are interested in cooperation in. “Today we talked about specific opportunities in power engineering industry, cooperation in oil and gas industry,” he said. “We took note of the fact that Belarus will build new gas storage facilities while Czech Republic has vast experience in this area”.

The sides also discussed prospects of expanding cooperation in chemical industry, mechanical engineering, considered prospects of collaboration in the area of transport infrastructure and transport means.

Milan Govorka said, “Belarus is a reliable partner for Czech Republic”. The mutual trade is rapidly developing and last year grew by more than 50%. However, in absolute figures (around \\$400 million) the trade turnover falls behind the existing potential of the two countries. “We would like to increase the trade turnover several times over and cooperate in such areas as investments, innovations, support for small and medium business,” said the official.

The official Czech delegation led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Milan Govorka is visiting Minsk on January 21-23. The delegation includes representatives of more than 20 large companies interested in cooperation with banks, gas, petrochemical, metallurgical and chemical companies, power generation enterprises. January 22 saw the opening of a contact and cooperation exchange for Czech and Belarusian businesses at the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.