Austrian President Stands For Deepening Cooperation With Belarus

VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2019) Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, after meeting with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, on Tuesday, spoke in favor of deepening bilateral relations between the countries.

Lukashenko is visiting Austria from November 11-12. It is his first visit to a European Union member state since May 2016.

"As for Belarus, our relations are long-standing, they are rooted in the Soviet past. We are proud to be the second largest investor [in Belarus]. But they [relations] still deserve deepening and expansion," the Austrian president told reporters after meeting with Lukashenko.

Among the potential areas for deepening cooperation in, Van der Bellen named the steel industry, banking and telecommunications.

"The European Union also cooperates with Belarus within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, and it also deserves deepening," the president said.

In May 2016, Lukashenko visited Italy and the Vatican after the European Union lifted most of the sanctions it had imposed against him and dozens of other Belarusian officials in a move to accelerate progress on human rights issues in Belarus.