Zimpapers Logo

Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko returned home yesterday afternoon after a highly successful three-day State visit to our country.

Monday, the first day of his visit, saw the staging of the Zimbabwe-Belarus Business Forum. Businesses from both countries discussed a range of opportunities and they signed more than five agreements. The deals involve supply of engines, tractors, mining vehicles and other machines. On the second day of his tour, which was Tuesday, the countries signed eight bilateral agreements in sectors including education, agriculture and economic co-operation. Soon after the inking of the agreements, President Mnangagwa and his guest launched the second phase of the farm mechanisation programme and witnessed the delivery of 1 300 tractors, 14 combine harvesters and disc harrows made in Belarus.

Some of the 1 300 tractors delivered for the Second Phase of the Farm Mechanisation Programme at the Ministry of Agriculture Institute in Harare yesterday

President Lukashenko also had time to visit the National Heroes Acre in Harare where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Yesterday, the final day of his visit, he visited the Victoria Falls, the highlight of the country’s tourism attractions.

It was a packed three-day programme, laden with substance. It represents growth in the diplomatic and economic relations between the two nations. It grows the friendship between the peoples of both nations.

Zimbabweans are a revolutionary people, who gained their freedom from British colonial rule through the gun. Yes, they want to be a friend to all and an enemy of none, but they know where they came from. They know their history. They know that for them to secure independence from the West, they got much support from the East – China, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia and so on. At the time of the struggle, Belarus was still part of the Soviet Union which split into a number of countries in the early 1990s. Therefore, Zimbabweans appreciate the role that Belarus, as a former member of the Soviet Union, played in their liberation. They respect that country together with Russia, the bigger brother in that union.

So we can say the friendship between Belarus and Zimbabwe dates back to our liberation struggle.

Now, President Mnangagwa and his Belarusian counterpart want that long political friendship to deepen, while nurturing the trade and investment relationship between their countries. Agriculture, engineering, mining and tourism industries stand out.

Said the President yesterday:

“— we would want to develop very close relations with Belarus especially in agriculture because they are very advanced and highly mechanised in their agriculture. I think we can get a lot of expertise both in terms of equipment and agronomy from Belarus. The second issue is that they are also very advanced in engineering. When it was USSR, their engineering state was Belarus and when it broke all that equipment, machinery and factories remained in Belarus, so again they are very advanced in that area and we need to also cooperate in that area.”

Being an agro-based economy, our country will reap benefits from its flourishing relationship with Belarus. Our farmers will be able to buy durable machines made in Belarus at affordable prices and enjoy after-sales services given that the Belarusian suppliers have agreements with their local partners to provide those services. As the country grows its agriculture, it must improve the way it works the land from manual effort to getting machines doing the hard work for them.

The agreements signed also have elements of education and skills training. That will assist peoples from both countries to widen their horizons and skills sets in a manner that will benefit them at personal level and their countries.

President Lukashenko’s visit of Victoria Falls will open that attraction to his country of about nine million. We, therefore, expect more visitors from that end of Europe.

President Mnangagwa and his Belarus counterpart President Lukashenko visit the Victoria Falls Rainforest yesterday

Just like Zimbabwe, Belarus is being targeted by the West. Both countries don’t want external forces to impose themselves on them. They want to rule themselves, build their nations and their foreign relations on the basis of mutual respect between them and their partners.

President Lukashenko must have uplifted the proud people of Zimbabwe when he said in Harare on Tuesday that they must not allow the West to cow them but work unitedly for national development. Indeed, the people of Zimbabwe fought a liberation struggle, have defended that freedom since 1980 and will continue refusing to be cowed by the former suppressors. They want to develop their country, partnering whoever, including the West as equal partners, shunning the old horse-rider relationship.

Our people appreciate that message from him and look forward to greater bilateral relations between his country and theirs following his successful three days here.