The military regime has expanded its cooperation with Belarus beyond arms dealing, hosting a first-ever visit by its top diplomat at the Myanmar-Belarus Business Forum on Friday.
The forum was attended by Lieutenant-General Nyo Saw, an advisor to Min Aung Hlaing who chairs the military-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation and sits on the junta’s governing body, the State Administration Council.
Also at the forum was Belarus Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov, who led a delegation of deputy ministers and businesspeople on a visit to Naypyitaw and Yangon from Jan. 8-11, holding talks with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing, his ministers and deputy ministers.
The EU-sanctioned Nyo Saw discussed investment in Yangon’s Thilawa Special Economic Zone with Ryzhenkov in Naypyitaw on Thursday. A day later, at the business-matching forum, they further explored potential cooperation in trade, investment and special economic zones.
Ryzhenkov told the forum he saw ample opportunities for economic cooperation with the regime. He expressed confidence that partnerships between businesses in the two countries would soon be established.
Talks on business cooperation covered agriculture (fertilizers, livestock, and dairy), healthcare services, pharmaceuticals, veterinary products, and food production, according to junta media. Possible partnerships were also mulled in automobile manufacturing, higher education, and seafood production.
Junta media reported that the two countries plan to sign a memorandum of understanding for technology transfer. An initial agreement for cooperation was signed by the Belarus Foreign Ministry and the junta’s Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations during Ryzhenkov’s trip.
Also present at the forum were Dr. Kan Zaw, junta minister of investment and foreign economic relations; Commerce Minister Tun Ohn; and Aye Win, chairman of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. On Belarus’s side, deputy ministers of health, industry, agriculture and food, high-level officials, and businesspeople joined the forum.
Belarus is a key arms supplier to the junta, along with its neighbor and ally Russia. Belarus refused to condemn the Myanmar military’s 2021 coup at the United Nations.
The regime opened a consulate in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, in September 2023, the latest of 18 consular missions that Myanmar operates around the world.
Myanmar regime boss Min Aung Hlaing visited Belarus in his capacity as army chief in 2014, holding talks with President Alexander Lukashenko, who has run the former Soviet republic with an iron fist since 1994.
The two countries last year celebrated their 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties, which were established on September 22, 1999, under military dictator Than Shwe.
