Belarus Seeks Closer Ties with China

Belarus and China are united by a 'high level' of political relations, according to Pavel Latyshko, the press secretary of the Belarussian Foreign Ministry. Latyshko was speaking yesterday to journalists after the end of a visit to Minsk by a Chinese delegation headed by Wang Zhongyu, the head of the Secretariat of the Chinese State Council. 'The visit was the first official visit of a Chinese delegation to Belarus since the 16th congress of the Chinese Communist Party on November 14, 2002,' said Latyshko. He added that the high level of political relations between the two countries was remarked upon 'several times' by the head of the Chinese delegation during his visit.

In Belarus Wang Zhongyu met with the head of the President's Administration, Ural Latypov, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky, and the chairman of the Committee for State Control, Anatoly Tozik. The two parties discussed the state of Belarussian-Chinese relations and prospects for their development, and also 'questions of inter-ministry cooperation' between Belarus and China.