On 3 June 2009 Mr Boris Batura, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, had a meeting with Ms Veka Inal, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey to the Republic of Belarus, on her request. Ms Nina Mazay, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Foreign Affairs and National Security, and Mr Gennady Novitsky, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government, Head of the Working Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on cooperation with the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey, also took part in the meeting. The sides discussed Belarus-Turkey parliamentary interaction in detail (including the legislative bodies contacts in the international arena), as well as trade-economic and humanitarian cooperation of our countries.

      Mr Boris Batura noted the high level of the relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Turkey in all spheres. He expressed gratitude for the support given to our country within the framework of international parliamentary structures (particularly the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Council of Europe). The Chairman of the Council of the Republic also asked the Ambassador to consider the possibility of ratifying the Belarusian amendment to Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol in view of the fact that the Republic of Turkey is a party to the Protocol. He also proposed to intensify the cooperation in the sphere of investment. The participants of the meeting paid a lot of attention to the prospects of interaction between the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey — the scheduled visit of the Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey to Belarus this year and the bilateral inter-parliamentary contacts on the level of the friendship groups created in the legislative bodies of the two countries.

      Ms Veka Inal noted in her turn that the relations between the two countries were developing in a friendly and cooperative manner. The Turkish side is ready to render further support to Belarus in the international arena and stands for the intensification of bilateral trade, economic and cultural links. She informed that Turkey planned to extend bilateral contacts in the sphere of energy and tourism alongside with developing investment cooperation in the sphere of construction and communication technology.