Belarus: Good Friends with Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran became the next big friend of Belarus after Saddam Hussein’s regime fell in 2003. Iranian and Belarusian officials had met before the second Iraq war: In June 2002, while meeting with the chair of the Iranian Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, the chair of the Belarus National Assembly, Alexander Voitovich, said, “Belarus shares and understands foreign policy initiatives advocated by the Islamic Republic of Iran.” However, following the fall of Saddam’s Iraq, Belarusian-Iranian relations in economic, diplomatic, and military areas rapidly took off.

In August 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq sent a note notifying Belarusian officials that the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Belarus would be closed. A month later, the Iranian embassy and more than 20 Iranian companies organized a trade expo in Minsk, Belarus. It was announced that a joint Belarusian-Iranian venture named BDC intended to build a modern complex in Brest, a Belarusian city at the border with Poland. Another Iranian firm, Kayson, considered bidding on the construction of an underground shopping center in Minsk.

What caused an uptick in business relations between these countries?

From that point on, both countries started exchanging multiple official visits and making promising statements. Belarus visited Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Kharrazi (2004), Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (2004), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mekhdi Safari (2005), Minister of Trade Massoud Mir Kazemi (2006), Minister of Industry and Mines Alireza Tahmasebi (2006) and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2007), just to name the few.

In addition, Belarusian officials quite actively visited Iran, where they met with various Iranian officials: Belarusian Ambassador in Iran Leonid Rachkov met with the Deputy Minister of Science, Research and Technology of Iran Jaffar Ali Monfared (2004), Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Martynov visited Iran in 2006, President Lukashenka visited Iran in 2006, and Minister of Defense Leonid Maltcev met with high-level Iranian military officials in 2007.

At the same time, there was a noticeable uptick in economic and business relations. Just as with Saddam’s government, Iranian officials expressed an intention to build an assembly line of Belarus tractors in Iran. In December 2005, both countries agreed to build an assembly plant for “Samand” Iranian passenger cars near Minsk. Iranian company “Keyson” and the Administration of Free Economic Zone Minsk came to an agreement to build a transport-service complex Prilesje on its territory (2006), the Belarus Auto Plant, and agreed to supply Iran with heavy-duty trucks (2006). Iran announced its intention to open banks with Iranian capital (2007), while Belarus signed an agreement with Iran to develop a Juffair oil field.

Here we come again: Iran is talking about the tractors …Sure, Belarusian tractors have a good reputation, but they are often mentioned in one breath with countries such as Iraq, Iran, Sudan…The countries known for human rights violations and links with terrorist groups.

To be continued

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Tagged as: Belarus arms transfers, Free Belarus, illegal arms sales, Iran, president Lukashenka