Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has visited Italy during his first European trip since the E.U. sanctions have been lifted.
The Belarusian leader has met with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella to discuss trade, economic and investment bilateral cooperation.
The aircraft with the Belarusian head of state on board landed in Rome Ciampino Airport, BelTA has learned. At the airport the Belarusian president was welcomed by Cristiano Cottafavi, the Director of the Diplomatic Protocol Department at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, a papal legate, Vatican's Secretary of Protocol Guillermo Karcher, and a representative of the Cardinal Secretary of State.
On 20 May Alexander Lukashenko is expected to meet with Italy President Sergio Mattarella. During the meeting the sides are supposed to discuss the entire range of Belarusian-Italian relations, focusing on trade, economic and investment cooperation, the development of manufacturing cooperation ties. Close attention will be paid to the development of a full-fledged legal framework of the Belarusian-Italian cooperation. While in the Vatican on 21 May, Alexander Lukashenko is expected to meet with Pope Francis.
The meeting will focus on further development of Belarus' cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church. Italy has traditionally been one of Belarus' main trade partners outside the CIS. In 2015, Belarus exported almost 200 items of products to Italy. The most popular Belarusian products on the Italian market were potash fertilizers, pipes, ferrous metal products, tanned leather. Major imports from Italy in 2015 were high-tech equipment and devices, chemical substances and materials, medicines and medical equipment which are not produced in Belarus.
In spite of the decrease in the Belarusian-Italian bilateral trade, including under the influence of external economic factors, the trade turnover made up $766.7 million last year. In the most prolific years it exceeded $2 billion. The trade in services made up about $60 million in 2015. Italian investments to the Belarusian economy totaled $28.8 million last year, direct investments accounted for a major part. As of the beginning of 2016, 204 legal entities were established in Belarus with the participation of Italian economic operators.
On 23 February 2016, Minsk hosted the first session of the Belarusian-Italian intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation and the Belarusian-Italian business forum. Humanitarian cooperation is increasingly vibrant. For several years Italy has been a major partner of Belarus in the organization of recuperation for Belarusian children. In 1991-2015, 463,500 Belarusian children went to Italy for recuperation. Italian humanitarian organizations also implement various projects in Belarus.
The cooperation of Belarus and the Vatican is dynamically developing as well. Alexander Lukashenko visited the Vatican and met with Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. High-ranking representatives of the Vatican visited Belarus several times. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin visited Belarus in March 2015. The Roman-Catholic Church in Belarus comprises four dioceses uniting 493 communities. There are five religious educational institutions, eleven missions, and nine monasteries in the country.
There are 491 Roman-Catholic churches in Belarus, 37 churches are being built. The exhibition “Icon painting in Belarus in the 17th-21st centuries” from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus opened in the museum of the Vatican a few days ago. The exhibition marks an important event in the Roman Catholic world - the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy - which was announced by Pope Francis.
The exhibition which will stay open for several months features 31 icons of Belarusian masters and two embossed icon covers. This is the first exhibition of Belarusian icons in the museum of the Vatican. Thanks to this exhibition, tourists from all over the world will see unique Belarusian icons.
