Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs U Than Swe, who paid a working visit to the Repub­lic of Belarus at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Mr Sergei Aleinik, arrived at the Minsk International Airport on the evening of 14 September. At the airport, the Myanmar delegation was welcomed by Myanmar Consul-General in Minsk U Moe Kyaw Thu, staff of Myanmar Consulate-General and responsible officials from the Belarusian Ministry of For­eign Affairs.

On the morning of 15 Sep­tember, he had a separate meet­ing with Minister of Foreign Af­fairs of the Republic of Belarus Mr Sergei Aleinik at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus. The foreign ministers cordially exchanged views on further pro­motion of bilateral relations and cooperation and reaffirmed their commitments for closer collabo­ration between the two countries in multilateral fora on the basis of mutual understanding, trust and equality.

Subsequently, the Myan­mar-Belarus bilateral meet­ing was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus. The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar U Than Swe and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Mr Sergei Aleinik. Also in attendance were Depu­ty Foreign Minister of Belarus Mr Evgeny Shestakov, Myanmar Ambassador concurrently ac­credited to Belarus U Lwin Oo, and senior officials of both sides.

At the meeting, both sides cordially exchanged views and discussed on a wide range of topics, including strengthening of the existing friendship and expediting the implementation of the ongoing bilateral coop­eration between Myanmar and Belarus, holding of consultations between the two foreign min­istries, enhancing cooperation in economy and trade, defence, agriculture, education, science and technology, culture and people-to-people exchanges amongst others. Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister U Than Swe expressed Myanmar’s profound appreciation to the Re­public of Belarus for its princi­pled position, understanding and unwavering support towards Myanmar, in both bilateral and multilateral contexts, especially at the United Nations and also for facilitation of the establish­ment of the Myanmar Consu­late-General in Minsk.

Later, the Myanmar del­egation attended the working luncheon hosted by Mr Sergei Aleinik, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus.

In the afternoon, the Myan­mar delegation visited the Fal­co-Agro Dairy Farm and was briefed by responsible officials on technique of cattle breeding and production of dairy prod­ucts. Afterwards, the Myanmar delegation visited the Belaru­sian State Museum of the His­tory of the Great Patriotic War.

In the evening, he attend­ed the reception celebrating the opening of the Consulate-Gener­al of the Republic of the Union Myanmar in Minsk, together with Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Mr Evgeny Shestakov. The reception was attended by officials from the Belarusian For­eign Ministry, diplomatic corps and Myanmar scholars in Minsk.

On 16 September, the Dep­uty Prime Minister and party departed Minsk to Mandalay via Moscow and Novosibirsk. In Novosibirsk, the Myanmar delegation was shown around the significant places of the city and building intended for the Myanmar Consulate-General in Novosibirsk. First Deputy Gov­ernor of Novosibirsk Region Mr Yuri Petukhov hosted a dinner for the Myanmar delegation.

The Myanmar delegation arrived back to the Mandalay International Airport by the My­anmar Airways International (MAI) flight on the morning of 17 September 2023, where they were welcomed back by official concerned of the Ministry of For­eign Affairs. — MNA