OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2010. Belarus and Italy have made great progress in bilateral cooperation, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said as he met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Belarus Giulio Prigioni whose term in office expires soon, reported the Official website government.by.

Our relations have advanced. I am happy to note that owing to your initiatives and interest in the development of Belarus-Italy relations we have managed to achieve great success including in the organization of a visit of Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Belarus, Sergei Sidorsky said.

Sergei Sidorsky added that during the diplomat’s term in office a range of important high-level meetings have taken place. Agreements have been reached to develop trade and economic relations between Belarus and Italy, partnership in culture. The sides discussed opportunities of expanding the lending by Italian banks to the Belarusian economy. A project on creating an Italian business district in Belarus was considered. Belarus and Finmeccanica agreed to develop partnership in power engineering, space technology, security. “This attests to the high level of development and possible integration of our economies in these sectors in the future,” the Prime Minister said.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, it is very important that Belarus and Italy have started setting up an intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation. “I think this work will be completed soon,” he added. By joint efforts the sides have also carried cultural projects.

For his part, Ambassador Giulio Prigioni noted that when working in Belarus he was guided by the diplomatic principle which says that “when you arrive in a country you need to work as if you are going to stay in this country forever.”

Julio Prigioni noted that during the 16 months of his mission, the two countries have implemented a large-scale cultural program. “We have laid a strong foundation. I hope that people will carry on with our cause and be able to build a castle of friendship between our nations and countries,” the Italian diplomat said.

The humanitarian cooperation will be continued, too. “Foreign policy of a state cannot rely solely on political links; economic, humanitarian and cultural cooperation is essential, too,” the Ambassador underlined. Measures will be taken to enable Belarusian children who speak Italian to make use of their knowledge. “We have laid a foundation to help them improve their skills and put them into practice,” the diplomat said.

Belarus and Italy are set to sign a cooperation agreement in culture in the near future, Julio Prigioni said.

“I hope that an agreement on cultural cooperation between Belarus and Italy will be signed in the near term and that a center for Italian studies will be opened in Minsk,” the Ambassador said.

According to Julio Prigioni, the trade and economic relations between Belarus and Italy will gain momentum. “We have received over 100 Italian businessmen in Minsk and Brest. If we keep it up, the Italian Industrial Area will be set up not only in Brest, but also in other cities where Italian entrepreneurs could show what they can and boost the bilateral cooperation,” the Ambassador said.

In 2009, Italy moved up the list of Belarus’ major trading partners to occupy the seventh position among the non-CIS states and remained the tenth largest export destination of Belarus.

In January-March 2010, the Belarus-Italy trade made up 205.96 million (109.9% as against the same period of 2009). Belarus’ export made up USD44.99 million (155.7%) and import USD 160.97 million (101,6%). The increase in the bilateral trade in 2010 is attributed to the revival of Italy’s economy after the crisis of 2009.

In Q1 2010, Belarus’ major exports to Italy included metal products, chemical and oil products, potash fertilizers, synthetic fiber and other goods. Belarus imported high-tech machine tools and equipment, chemical products, medicines and medical equipment. In Q1 2010, the export of services was posted at USD 7.4 million (up 9.1%).

Some 80 companies with Italian investments have been registered in Belarus. Forty-nine of them are joint ventures and 31 are foreign firms.