The leader of the Myanmar military junta arrived at Bélarus yesterday for a two -day state visit aimed at strengthening his support for his sanctioned and besieged military administration.
Arrival of Saint Petersburg, the main general Aung Hlaing was welcomed at Minsk airport by Minister Belarusian Foreign Affairs, Maksim Ryzhenkov, the Belarusian government said in a statement on Wednesday and in a close format. “
“The two leaders will discuss cooperation in trade, the economy and humanitarian affairs and will eliminate the plans for the future,” said the report. “In particular, they will discuss collaboration in industry, agriculture, pharmaceutics and science.” A number of bilateral documents will be signed following talks, added Belta.
The trip also received treatment by the first page by the new world light managed by the state of Myanmar, which said that Min Aung Hlaing led a “high -level delegation of good will” to the old Soviet Republic. Min Aung Hlaing visited the Bélarus in his capacity as army chief in 2014, during which he met Lukashenko, who has been running the country since 1994.
The trip of Min Aung Hlaing to Bélarus constitutes a Coda to his four -day state visit to Russia, who involved his first official meeting with President Vladimir Putin. During their meeting at the Kremlin, Min Aung Hlaing thanked Russia for her diplomatic and military support and predicted victory for Russia in his current war against Ukraine. In return, Putin said that this help that Myanmar and Russia were “linked by really strong friendships, support and mutual assistance traditions”.
The specific results of the Bélarus visit are somehow less important than the fact of the visit itself. Like his visit to Russia, Min Aung Hlaing’s trip to Minsk reflects her need to compensate for the isolation of his West regime by consolidating economic and security relations with nations that share his fear and his suspicion of Western powers. This is the main engine of the strategic convergence between Putin Russia and the Military Junta of Myanmar, who have taken repeated measures to improve their already substantial economic and military relations, while defending the other’s foreign policies in the face of the international opprobrium.
The Bélarus, an effective satellite of Putin Russia which provided substantial support for its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is one of the few other nations having a strong interest in supporting the board of directors of the military (bag), if only to frustrate the conceptions of Western powers. The Bélarus was the only country to vote against a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in June 2021 calling on the Member States to “prevent the flow of weapons in Myanmar”. In September 2023, the junta opened a consulate in Minsk.
Bélarus is also a large supplier of weapons to the Myanmar armed forces. In 2022, the Plagoyer Justice Group for Myanmar noted that the sales of Belarusian weapons prior to the Myanmar include “two Kvadat-M Sam missile systems, delivered in 2016, one hundred 3m9 air surface missiles, delivered in 2015-16 and two combat helicopters Mi24 / MI-35, delivered in 2019.” The military connection of Bélarus-Myanmar was targeted by sanctions from the American government announced in October 2022, against three individuals from the Myanmar and an entity “for their roles linked to the purchase of military weapons produced in Russia from Bélarus for the Burmese regime”.
Myanmar and Belarus have since decided to extend their relations beyond the defense sphere, in particular to increase trade and investment links currently negligible between the two nations. In January, the Biélorusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov led a delegation of ministers and business people during a visit to Naycyidaw and Yangon, during which he had interviews with Min Aung Hlating and other eminent members of the bag.
This involved the concession of the first Myanmar-Belarus business forum in Yangon, during which officials from the two countries discussed possible Belarusian investments in the Thilawa special economic area in Yangon. After the arrival of Min Aung Hlaing yesterday, another Bélarus-Myanmar commercial forum was summoned to Minsk, which, according to Belta, was to present presentations of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the leaders of the main Myanmar companies.
Meeting with Min Aung Hlaing yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Shuleiko said his government was “very interested in advancing bilateral and economic relations. Bélarus is a country of construction of machines and agriculture. There are many fields where we can be useful to each other. »»