Meetings with the delegation of the “Turkey — Belarus” Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Group of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

     On 18 May 2010 Mr Boris Batura, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, had a meeting with the members of the parliamentary delegation of the Republic of Turkey headed by Mr Reha Çamuroğlu, Chairperson of the “Turkey — Belarus” Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Group, within the framework of the delegation’s visit to the Republic of Belarus. Mr Gennady Novitsky, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Regional Policy and Local Self-Government, Head of the Working Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey, and Ms Nina Mazay, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Foreign Affairs and National Security, participated in the meeting on the Belarusian side. The Turkish side was also represented by the deputies of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mr Orhan Ziya Diren and Mr Zeki Ertugay.

     The issues discussed included cooperation between Belarus and Turkey in the international arena, intensification of inter-parliamentary links, development of bilateral interaction in trade, economic, investment and humanitarian spheres.

     The Chairman of the Council of the Republic noted the high level of interstate relations between the two countries and their similar positions on the main international issues. According to Mr Batura’s opinion it creates favourable conditions for development of fruitful cooperation. He expressed gratitude to the Turkish side for support in international parliamentary organizations such as OSCE PA, PABSEC and PACE.

     Mr Boris Batura welcomed active contacts between the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and stated that the prospective visit of the Chairman of Parliament of Turkey would give a significant impetus to the bilateral parliamentary dialogue and take it to a new level. The Chairman of the Council of the Republic noted his satisfaction about the high potential of Belarusian-Turkish trade, economic and investment interaction. He mentioned the active position of Turkey in the Belarusian market. Mr Boris Batura positively evaluated the significant amount of large-scale Turkish projects in Belarus, particularly in the sphere of construction, and outlined the necessity of developing the links between the two countries in the spheres of culture and tourism.

     Mr Reha Çamuroğlu in his turn confirmed his willingness to continue supporting our country in the international arena. He expressed interest in developing the relations between the legislative bodies of our countries and noted that the “Turkey — Belarus” Inter-parliamentary Cooperation Group in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was a kind of example of active cooperation with foreign states. The Turkish parliamentarian expressed readiness to facilitate the intensification of bilateral trade, economic and investment links.

     Mr Reha Çamuroğlu underlined that Turkey occupied the third place in  Belarus’ investment partners rating, which speaks for the high degree of Turkish businessmen’s trust to our country.

     The dialogue about the interaction between Belarus and Turkey continued during the meeting of Mr Gennady Novitsky, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Regional Policy and Local Self-Government, Head of the Working Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey, with the members of the delegation. Mr Nikolai Kazak, Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the House of Representatives for International Affairs and Links with the CIS, deputy head of the mentioned working group, also took part in the meeting.

     Mr Gennady Novitsky welcomed active contacts between the inter-parliamentary cooperation groups and proposed the Turkish side to make a wider use of the regional cooperation potential for extending interstate links. He highly appreciated the Turkish businessmen’s trust to our country. It allows them to make significant investments to the Belarusian economy. The head of the working group also noted that developing Belarusian-Turkish links in the spheres of education, culture and tourism was very important as a significant component of cooperation. There at he mentioned the increase in the number of Belarusian students, who want to study Turkish. Mr Nikolai Kazak focused the attention of the participants of the meeting on the development of contacts between scientific establishments of Belarus and Turkey. This proposal was supported by the guests.

     The Turkish parliamentarians supported the Belarusian initiative on developing regional cooperation and noted their interest in intensifying contacts between business circles of Belarus and Turkey, as well as the links in the spheres of culture and tourism. Mr Reha Çamuroğlu invited Mr Gennady Novitsky to visit the Republic of Turkey as the head of the parliamentary delegation of the Republic of Belarus in 2011.

     The sides exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues of common interest in a constructive manner.

     The visit of the Turkish parliamentary delegation will last until 20 May. The programme includes meetings in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, as well as visits to a number of Belarusian organizations.