Belarusian Defence Ministry considers Syria Belarus’ key partner in Middle East

At the today’s meeting in Minsk defence ministers of Belarus and Syria spoke in favour of development of military cooperation between the two countries.

Syria is Belarus’ traditional key partner in trade, economic, political and other areas in the Middle East, Belarusian Defence Minister Leanid Maltsau said during the negotiations with the military department delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic headed by Syrian Defence Minister Lieutenant General Hassan Ali Turkmani.

“Belarus values highly friendly relations with Syria which have been strengthening and expanding from year to year. Time has shown that these relations are stable and very important for both the countries,” Leanid Maltsau said.

Belarus is interested in joint efforts to develop equal and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in all areas including military and technical one. “I am sure that there are big prospects for the development of Belarus-Syria relations. Filling bilateral cooperation with real content meets the interests of the two countries,” the Belarusian minister said.

According to the Syrian Defence Minister, the two countries have been actively developing friendly relations and have similar positions on the key international problems. “I believe that the visit will help the two countries develop the cooperation in the military area. During the visit we will be able to identify new avenues of cooperation,” he said.

The Syrian Defence Minister thanked the Belarusian side for the invitation to visit Belarus. It is his first visit to this country. “We are ready to continue negotiations and we would like to get familiar with the opportunities of Belarusian defence companies,” Hassan Ali Turkmani added.

“The international situation and some political aspects suggest that the cooperation between the two counties should be activated. I am convinced that the both states have such a desire,” the Syrian Defence Minister stated.

The Syrian delegation has arrived to Belarus on March 2, and the visit is to last until March 5.

Western countries many times made statements about Syria’s cooperation with terroristic organisations.

The latest statement has been made by the US Department of State in late February 2009 during the negotiations with Syria. It was said in particular:

“There are considerable contradictions between the two governments, including our worries over support of terrorist groups and networks by Syria, in connection with purchasing of common and nuclear weapons, intervention in the affairs of Lebanon and deteriorating human rights situation”.

At the same time the West many times stated that Belarus was illegally selling arms to such countries as Syria, Iran and North Korea.

In March 2008 “The Washington Times” noted:

“Belarus, during 2001 alone, secretly sold $500 million in arms to Syria and its terrorist faction, the Hezbollah, that used the deadly Katyusha rockets against Israel.”