Study in Belarus and Russia
India’s relations with Belarus have been traditionally warm and cordial. India was one of the first countries to recognize Belarus as independent country in 1991. Formal diplomatic relations were established and the Indian diplomatic mission in Minsk was opened in 1992 and Belarus opened its Mission in New Delhi in 1998.
Belarus has an Honorary Consulate in Kolkata and Mumbai. India and Belarus enjoy good understanding and commonality of views on various matters and cooperate with each other in multilateral fora on issues of mutual interest. Belarus has been supportive of India’s candidature for a permanent seat at the UNSC. Belarus supported India’s candidature for the non-permanent seat of UNSC for the years 2011-12. Belarus also supported India at the NSG Session in Seoul in June 2016. India supported Belarus for its membership in the NAM and other international and multilateral fora like IPU. India’s supportive stand on various Resolutions in Geneva and New York targeting Belarus for violation of human rights and restrictions on freedom of expression has been appreciated by Belarus. Belarus recognizes India as an emerging global power and seeks to develop a “strategic relationship” with India.
India and Belarus have maintained high level contacts. Late PM Rajiv Gandhi visited Minsk in 1985 when Belarus was still a part of the Soviet Union. There have been several high-level visits from both sides including visits of President Alexander Lukashenko to New Delhi in 1997 and again in 2007 and in September 2017, the President of the Republic of Belarus, H.E. Mr.Aleksandr Lukashenko visited India with state visits. On June 2-4, 2015, the first ever visit of the President of the Republic of India, H.E. Mr.Pranab Mukherjee to the Republic of Belarus took place. The visit Vice President of India to Minsk in 2005 apart from other ministerial level visits and parliamentary exchanges. EAM visited Minsk in Sept 2009; MoS (Communications & IT) came to Belarus in January, 2012 to inaugurate the Digital Learning Centre in Minsk. The Lok Sabha Speaker, Mrs. Meira Kumar visited Belarus in May 2013 and MoS (Commerce & Industry) in 2006, 2012 and 2015. Industry Minister of Belarus visited India in July 2013 for the IGC meeting in New Delhi and Mumbai in Feb 2016 to participate in the ‘Make in India’ conference. Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Vladimir Semashko accompanied by the Belarusian Minister of Industry visited India to participate in the 4th Global Ministerial Level Conference on Renewable Energy in New Delhi in Oct 2010.
Belarusian Foreign Minister visited India in April 2015 for bilateral discussions. In May 2016, a Belarusian Parliamentary Delegation led by Mr. Mikhail Myasnikovich,
Chairman of the Council of the National Assembly of Belarus visited India. Recent high-level interaction was a meeting between Hon’ble PM and Belarusian President in Tashkent on June 24, 2016 on the sidelines of the 15th Summit of SCO Heads of State.
In 2015, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble President of India paid a successful visit to Minsk in June- the first ever Presidential visit from India to Belarus. A number of documents for cooperation in broadcasting, standardization, textiles, securities and a
Roadmap for future cooperation were signed during the visit. Also signed were business agreements and MoUs for cooperation in the field of education. India’s decision to grant Market Economy Status to Belarus and a US$ 100 million Line of Credit were announced during the visit.
The 5th meeting of India-Belarus Foreign Office Consultations (FoC) was held in Minsk on November 22, 2016. Secretary (West), MEA Ms. Sujata Mehta led the Indian delegation to the FoCs. Secretary (West) also met Belarusian FM Vladimir Makei.
In May 1993, November 2002 and November 2012, visits of the Prime Ministers of the Republic of Belarus were organized to India. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus visited India in 1998, 2002 and 2007.
On September 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus H.E. Mr.Vladimir Makei met with Minister of External Affairs of India H.E. Dr.S.Jaishankar. The Heads of the chambers of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus visited India in 2002, 2003 and 2006.
On May 10-14, 2016, a Belarusian parliamentary delegation headed by the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus visited India. The return visit of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha of the Parliament of India to the Republic of Belarus took place on June 9-13, 2018.
A Working Group on Cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of India has been formed at the National Assembly of the 7th convocation of the Republic of Belarus. A dialogue between the legislative bodies of Belarus and India has been established on the margins of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The heads of the Belarusian and Indian parliamentary delegations met during the 139th IPU Assembly in Geneva in October 2018. On October 16, 2018, the 6th round of political consultations at the level of the deputies of Foreign Ministers of Belarus and India was held in New Delhi.
Since 2002, the Honorary Consulate of Belarus in Kolkata has been functioning. On September 8, 2018, the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Belarus in Mumbai was opened.
The positions of Belarus and India on the main issues of maintaining international peace and security, approaches to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda for the period up to 2030, as well as the decisions of major international summits and conferences are close or coincide. Both countries consistently oppose the politicization of human rights issue and the use of selective «double standards». Source
Current Ambassador Extaordinary and Plenipotentionary Previous Ambassador Pankaj Saxena met and interacted with 18 Indian Ms. Sangeeta Bahadur with students
Belarus has a good and high-quality human resources and strong scientific and technological establishment. There could be good possibilities of increased S&T cooperation. The concerned agencies like the DRDO and DST on the Indian side and the Belarus’ State Committee on Science & Technology and Belarus Academy of Sciences, etc. are engaged with each other in areas of mutual interest. Belarusian side is quite keen to increase these contacts and interaction. Belarus played an important role in setting up the Advance Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials in Hyderabad in 1991. A Digital Learning Centre in ICT at High Technology Park in Minsk has been set up in 2011 for which DIT (C-DAC) was the nodal agency on the Indian side.
The 8th meeting of India–Belarus Commission on Cooperation in the Sphere of Science and Technology was held in Minsk on March 2, 2018. Dr. Arabinda Mitra, Co-Chair and Head of International Bilateral Cooperation, Department of Science and Technology led the Indian delegation to the meeting and the Belarusian delegation was headed by Dr. Sergei Sherbakov, Vice-Chairman, State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus.
Since September 2013, the Indian Information and Coordination Center for Scientific and Technical Cooperation has been functioning at the Republican Scientific and Technical Library in Minsk.
A Joint Belarusian-Indian Commission for Cooperation in Science and Technology is functioning. The 8th meeting of the Joint Commission was held in Minsk on March 1-2, 2018. The date of the next meeting in 2020 in a format of a video conference is being agreed upon.
In August 2019, a delegation of the Institute of Powder Metallurgy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus visited India. In September 2019, a Deputy Chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus took part in the 70th meeting of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the member states of the International Center for Scientific and Technical Information and in the International Conference «Digital Economy: Space for Scientific and Technical Information» in New Delhi.
Eight priority joint research projects have been agreed upon and are implemented in 2019-2020.
In September 2019, the Belarusian and Indian Seminar «Nanomaterials and New Materials» was held in Minsk.
On August 5, 2020, the 9th meeting of the Joint Belarusian-Indian Commission on Cooperation in Science and Technology was held via videoconference. Source
India and Belarus maintain comprehensive partnership. Both countries have established mechanisms for exchanging views on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues through Foreign Office Consultations, Inter-governmental India-Belarus Commission on Cooperation in Science and Technology (IGC), Commission on Military Technical Cooperation and Commission on S&T cooperation. The 7th IGC meeting was held in Minsk in Sept 2015. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State (I/C) for Commerce and Industry led the Indian delegation to the meeting. The 7th meeting of India-Belarus Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation in Science and Technology was held in April 2016 in Hyderabad. The first meeting of India-Belarus Joint Working Group on Textile was conducted on 11th May 2016 in New Delhi. A high-level delegation led by Industry Minister, Mr. Vitaly Vovk visited India to participate in the
8th India-Belarus IGC Session held in New Delhi from July 3-4, 2017. Two countries have signed a number of Agreements/MoUs on various subjects, namely, trade and economic cooperation, cultural, educational, media and sports, S&T, foreign office consultations, IGC, Avoidance of Double Taxation, Promotion and Protection of Investments and defense and technical cooperation. Bilateral trade between the two countries remains modest. Two-way bilateral trade in 2016 amounted to US$ 402 million approximately. The trade balance remains in favor of Belarus primarily on account of imports of Potash. Indian PSU, BHEL, was awarded a contract worth US$ 55.5 million for the supply and installation of equipment and machinery for the Grodno Power Project. India extended a Line of Credit for the project. The project was successfully completed in 2013 and is running well.
In 2011, BelAZ signed an MoU with an Indian company Enrika for establishing a joint venture for servicing the Belarusian dumper trucks in India. Belarus participated in the India International Trade Fair in November 2012 as ‘Partner Country’ and Belarus was the focus country in the India International Trade Fair (IITF) held from 14-27 November 2016.
Department of Commerce sponsored Pharmexcil and Assocham delegations visited Minsk in February and March 2016 respectively – Pharmexcil for a Buyer-Seller Meet with Belarusian pharmaceuticals companies and Assocham delegation for participation at Belarus Medica 2016 where India was invited as ‘guest of honor’.
Again, an Assocham delegation participated in Belarus Medica 2017 in Minsk in May 2017. The first meeting of India-Belarus JWG on Pharmaceuticals was held in New Delhi in January 2017. Belarusian delegation was led by its Deputy Health Minister. A 2-Member delegation of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) visited Belarus in January 2017 and held discussions with Minsk Tractors works concerning export of M&M engines to Belarus and market their products in Belarus and in third countries.
Two scientists from DMRL (DRDO) visited Belarus from February 13-17, 2017 in connection with the contract between DMRL and Powder Metallurgy Institute (PMI) Minsk.
The 9th Meeting of India- Belarus Joint Commission on Military & Technical
Cooperation was held in Minsk from May 2-4, 2017. BEL and HAL participated in Defence Exhibition, MILEX 2017 (May 2017).
In 2020, the key trade and economic events included the holding of the first Belarusian-Indian Investment Forum in New Delhi on March 4, in which representatives of 9 Belarusian and more than 70 Indian companies and organizations took part, as well as the tenth meeting of the Belarusian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission on cooperation in the field of trade, economy, science, technology and culture. On the sidelines of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, a Protocol on the exchange of instruments of ratification of the Agreement on Investment was signed. Joint working groups on cooperation in the textile industry, pharmaceuticals, trade and investment are established.
In 2021, representatives of “Gomselmash” OJSC and “Bobruiskagromash” Holding Management Company” OJSC participated in the 2nd International Agroindustrial Exhibition “AGRI PROGRESS EXPO 2021” on September 3-5, 2021 in Mohali, Punjab.
In December 2021, a representative Belarusian business delegation of more than 70 representatives engaged in wholesale trade in food products was prepared, including “Neighbours”, “Vitalyur”, “Aptekarsky Sad” and others, took part in one of the largest in South Asia exhibitions in the field of food “Indus Food 2022” in New Delhi.
The main Belarusian export products to India are potash fertilizers (supplied by OJSC “Belarusian Potash Company” (BPC) via its representative office in New Delhi). The Memorandum of Understanding between OJSC BPC and the company Indian Potash Ltd. on the supply of Belarusian potash fertilizers to India signed on September 12, 2017 during the visit of the President of the Republic of Belarus to India, is being implemented in its full capacity.
In 2020, in physical terms, the export of Belarusian potassium chloride to India reached historic record volumes.
In 2021, India’s exports of potash chloride increased significantly in value terms.
In May 2016, the BelAZ dump truck service centre was officially opened in the city of Nagpur (Maharashtra). 5 BelAZ dump trucks with a lifting capacity of 240 tons are successfully operated by the Indian company Triveni within the framework of the Polawarat project in Andhra Pradesh. In January 2019, OJSC “BelAZ” won a tender for the supply of a large state-owned Indian company Coal India 77 mining trucks with a carrying capacity of 136 tons. The corresponding contract was signed on October 15, 2019. In 2020 all dump trucks were shipped. In January 2021, during the visit of the Minister of Industry of the Republic of Belarus Petr Parkhomchik and the General Director of OAO “BELAZ” Sergei Nikiforovich in Kolkata (India) a new contract was signed with the Indian state company “Coal India Limited” for the supply of 96 Belarusian dump trucks with a capacity of 220 tons to India, as well as the supply of spare parts and services for 8 years of operation. Deliveries of equipment began in 2021.
In 2021, for the first time in many years, the supply of BELARUS tractors to the Indian market was resumed. In June 2017 OJSC “Gomselmash” together with the Indian company DVR Infratech Private Limited established the JV in India called “Gomselmash-India”. In 2017 — 2018, RUE PA “Belorusneft” successfully completed two joint projects in the field of enhanced oil recovery at the Digboy and Chabua fields (Assam state). In February 2020, RUE PA “Belorusneft” has signed a contract with the Indian PSU ONGC for the formulations of surface-active substances (surfactants) to increase the oil recovery in 6 Indian fields. The contract must be fully implemented by October 9, 2020. The work is underway to conclude some new contracts in the field of enhanced oil recovery. The Indian major aggregator “YATRA” is authorized as the Belarus Tourism Information Centre in India, which started working in September 2019 on the systematic promotion of Belarus as of the attractive destination for the Indian tourists via the online and offline channels of the company. In 2021, the export of services to India amounted to $ 98.1 million (160.4% compared to 2020, mostly the export of maritime transport services). The import amounted to $ 7.1 million (64.2%). The balance of the Belarusian-Indian trade in services is positive and amounted to $ 91.1 million at the end of 2020. Investment cooperation is consistently progressing (there are three investment projects with the participation of the Indian side in the field of pharmaceuticals). In 2021, the inflow of direct investment from India increased significantly – up to $ 1.3 million. It is planned to hold a representative National Exposition of the Republic of Belarus on November 14-27, 2022 in New Delhi within the framework of the Universal International Trade Fair “India International Trade Fair 2022” (IITF 2022). Source
The Embassy, in association with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, organized performances by ICCR sponsored Kalbelia Folkdance Group (Dance group from Rajasthan State in India) in Minsk and Molodechno on 30th and 31 August 2016 respectively.
India has been assisting Belarus in its human resource development under GoI’s ITEC program. So far, over 290 Belarusian officials and others have been benefitted from this program. For 2017-18, 15 ITEC training slots have been allotted to Belarus.
A diplomat from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus participated in the FSI conducted 62nd Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats (PCFD) from 27 July to 26 August 2016.
Ms. Anastisia Bulankova, a Belarusian national who studied Hindi in Moscow and later at the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra, participated in the Regional Hindi Conference held from 26-27 October 2016 organized by the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Center, in Moscow.
A 4-member Belarusian painters’ delegation led by Sitnitsa Grigory, Chairman if Union of Artists of Belarus visited India in February 2017. The visit was entirely funded by ICCR.
The 3rd International Day of Yoga 2017 was celebrated in Gorki Park in Minsk on 17 June 2017 with over 300 participants.
As a mark of celebration of the 25th anniversary year of bilateral relations with Belarus, Ambassador presented ICCR gifted two pieces of Indian artefacts to the National Art Museum of Belarus, Minsk in July 2017.
The Indian community in Belarus is minuscule with around 100Indian nationals and 350 students, mostly studying medicine in Belarusian medical universities.
In 2018/2019 academic year, 634 Indian citizens and in 2019/2020 academic year, 821 Indian citizens studied at universities in the Republic of Belarus on a commercial basis, as well as 888 Indian students in 2020/2021 academic year. The network of direct contacts between educational institutions of Belarus and India is expanding.
In October 2018, a delegation from Gujarat University of Forensic Science visited Belarus to participate in the 15th meeting of the Executive Board of the International Association of Police Academies (INTERPA).
In August 2014, Days of Culture of the Republic of India were held in Belarus. In January 2017 Days of Culture of the Republic of Belarus in India were organized. Joint projects are being implemented in the field of film and television broadcasting.
On September 24, 2019, a ceremony of beginning of shooting a film by «Indian Media Entertainment Network» company on the territory of Belarus in cooperation with RUE «National Film Studio «Belarusfilm» was held. The project was successfully completed in 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2020, an Indian film crew took part in the preparation and filming of a feature film under title “Detachment” at the site of the RUE “National Film Studio” Belarusfilm “.
There is a regular exchange of musical and artistic groups, as well as mutual participation in film festivals. Source
Categories: RELATIONS WITH COUNTRIES
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