New Outlines of Foreign Affairs: Review of Belarus relations with Asia, Africa and Latin America

Sergei Bogdan

Summary

In 2018, Belarusian relations with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America were less resonant but hardly less fruitful. The economic effect of these relations remained approximately the same, in spite of the fact that Minsk paid less attention to the political advancement of these relations and participation in global political games in this direction.

Partnership with China remained one of the key areas of foreign policy. Despite all the inconsistency of relations with this country, many negative features are not the result of the vicious policy of Minsk, but are universal for communication of the majority of the world's states with China.

The Belarusian government has also begun to pay more attention to balancing the warring states in the Middle East and Asia. At the same time, Belarusian officials have never voiced so many critical comments about the relations with various countries of the so-called “far arc of partnership” as in 2018.

Trends:

The results of the policy review of the countries of the “far arc of partnership” in recent years became evident. In 2018, there were fewer relevant contacts and projects, moreover President Lukashenko, speaking about the multi-vector foreign policy in his address to the Parliament, did not link it clearly with the states of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the countries of the so-called “far arc”, and strongly emphasized the role of the PRC.

Participation in the non-aligned movement, through which Belarusian contacts with developing countries were unfolding, became clearly marginal.

However, it is not worth exaggerating these trends. Introducing the program of the new Cabinet of Ministers, Prime Minister Sergei Rumas announced that at the end of the five-year plan “equal distribution of commodity exports between the markets of the EAEU, the EU and the “far arc” countries should be ensured.”1

The infrastructure of communication with Asian countries was also constructed. Against the background of the closure of Belarusian consulates in Europe (in Odessa, Gdansk, Milan), the Belarusian government opened additional consulates in Asia: in June in Dubai (UAE), and in November in Guangzhou (China).

“With powerful China – Belarus is strong”

The participation of the Chinese military in the liberation day parade on 3 July for the first time, symbolized the growth of the Chinese presence in the country. Another illustration of the proximity of Minsk and Beijing was the mutual cancellation of visas for citizens of Belarus and China in August.

Minsk makes great efforts to join the new “Chinese world” and has achieved some results in integration into the Shanghai cooperation organization (SCO). Alexander Lukashenko took part in the SCO summit on 10 June in Qingdao, China, and Prime Minister Rumas took part in the SCO heads of government meeting on 11–12 October in Dushanbe. This even led to the need for consultations with Russia on the issues of “joining the construction of the EAEU with the Chinese initiative “one belt, one road” and establishing cooperation between the EAEU with the SCO and ASEAN”.2

During the year, there was an intensive interaction between various Belarusian and Chinese institutions and organizations. On 6 April, the Minister of Defense of the PRC Wei Fenghe came to Belarus, at the beginning of the year our country received another batch of equipment for special operations forces from the PRC. On 27–29 May, Belarus was visited by Vice President of the PRC Wang Qishan, who held talks with the then Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov, met with President Lukashenko and visited the “Great Stone”. On 20 September the Secretary of the Central Committee of CPC for discipline inspection Zhao Lazzi visited Belarus. Belarusian officials of various agencies visited China during the year. Almost all central state bodies of Belarus have partnerships with relevant institutions of the PRC.

However, despite these political contacts, Prime Minister Rumas complained that “the level of trade and economic communication does not reach the level of political... Our enterprises... experience difficulties with entering the Chinese market... Belarusian citizens and companies face financial barriers at calculations.”3

Contacts are not limited to state authorities, and affect the largest Chinese companies: CITIC Group, Huawei, China Merchants Group, ZTE, etc. Especially outstanding is the role of CITIC Group. President Lukashenko signed a decree On the Chinese-Belarusian Investment Fund, its founders were CITIC Construction (60%) and ASB Belarusbank (40%). The Fund is supposed to attract funds from foreign and domestic markets and invest them in Belarusian investment projects in exchange for shares or bonds of enterprises. The volume of investments in the first two years of the Fund must be USD 50 million.

Interaction with Chinese business is closely intertwined with agreements with Chinese government agencies. Belarus attracted Chinese money for development, and the transparency of these projects was low. The attraction of soft loans can serve as such an example. On 7 February, the Council of Ministers decided to attract a preferential governmental loan from China for a period of 15 years for the implementation of the investment project “Organization of high-tech agro-industrial production of a full cycle for 2016–2032” in the amount of CNY 1750 million (about USD 259 million). Probably, in connection with the same project on 11 September, the Council of Ministers decided on measures to implement the loan agreement with China for CNY 2.5 billion (approximately USD 371 million). According to official information, the Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation received this preferential governmental loan.

The Chinese Corporation CITIC Group, whose leadership visited Belarus in May and July and met with President Lukashenka, plays an unknown key role in the project. It is this Corporation, as other official sources reported, that after the construction of the automobile plant "BELGEE“, modernization of cement plants and Orša flax factory, began to organize a “high-tech agro-industrial production”. The products, which will be produced after the project, should go to the Chinese market.4

Middle East: multi-vector within a region

Two of its former partner countries, Iran and Sudan, have reappeared on the horizon of Belarusian foreign policy. At the beginning of the year, Minister of Industry Vitaly Vovk visited Tehran, and the 14th meeting of the Intergovernmental Mixed Commission for Economic Cooperation was held on 22–23 January. On 7 September, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani visited Belarus. At the beginning of the year, the Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik went to Sudan, and the 4th meeting of the Joint Commission for Cooperation was held in Khartoum on 23–24 January. Now the joint projects are related to trade, industrial cooperation, agriculture, geological exploration, energy, mining. It is known that the implementation of the gold mining project has begun, and the Sudanese side in 2018 gave the Belarusian partners the opportunity to start at the second goldfield.

On 10 December, President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir paid a visit to Belarus, during which he opened the Embassy of Sudan in Minsk. The Belarusian side intends to create a machine-building center in Sudan, where tractors, cars and construction equipment (MTZ, MAZ and Homselmash), as well as dairy and commercial complexes and greenhouses of closed type would be assembled. Minsk and Khartoum have agreed to trade the produced equipment not only in Sudan, but also in southern Sudan. Minsk hopes that in this way it will be able to enter the markets of other African countries.

On 5 April, Minister of Presidential Affairs of Syria Mansour Azzam paid a visit to Belarus. He was received by Lukashenka, to whom he brought a letter from Bashar al-Assad. The talks were devoted to the peaceful development of Syria and the possible participation of Belarus in the reconstruction of the country. Over the past few years, Belarus has repeatedly received Syrian children on a humanitarian basis.

Some revival of contacts with Iran, Sudan and Syria can be seen not as a transition to the other side in the global confrontation, but as a balancing act. This was illustrated not only by the exchange of visits between Belarus and Israel, but also by an inconspicuous but highly important meeting on 2 March between foreign Minister Vladimir Makei and a delegation of the American Jewish Committee headed by Chairperson John Shapiro and Executive Director David Harris.

Minsk balances in the Middle East and does so through contacts with the UAE, Egypt, Oman and Turkey. In early May, Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Vashchenko and Chairperson of the State Customs Committee Yuri Senko went to the UAE at the same time. On 14–15 November, Chairperson of the House of Representatives of Egypt Ali Abdel al-Sayed visited Belarus. On 14–15 February, Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim arrived in Minsk. According to Lukashenka, the relations between Minsk and Ankara are currently experiencing a renaissance. Indeed, over the past ten years, trade has grown more than fivefold, close to a billion USA dollars. Binali Yildirim arrived again on 12–13 November, as the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament.

Asia: with Afghanistan at the expense of India, with Pakistan at the expense of China?

Relations with India were modest but noticeable. During the SCO summit, the Belarusian President met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and on 11–12 June, the Speaker of the lower house of the Indian Parliament Sumitra Mahajan visited Belarus. On 24 September, an investment treaty was signed with India. But the Indian side's interest was limited, and Delhi did not even send officials to participate in the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission for Cooperation.5

On 23 May, President Lukashenko approved the draft intergovernmental agreement with Afghanistan on military-technical cooperation, and during the meeting of the SCO heads of governments in Dushanbe Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Rumas met with his Afghan counterpart Abdul Abdullah. Contacts with Afghanistan may be connected with the Belarusian-Indian relations and occupy a significant place in the latter. The fact is that at the beginning of March in Delhi an agreement was signed between the Afghan Ministry of Defense and unnamed Belarusian partners on the delivery of four Mi-24 helicopters to Kabul.6 The deal was paid for by India.

Contacts with Pakistan can be seen as a counterbalance to relations with India. The most notable event was the December visit of Zubair Mahmoud Hayat, Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Armed Forces. He was received by President Lukashenko, who discussed civil affairs with him. A distinctive moment was the discussion of cooperation between Belarus and Pakistan in integration associations.7

Relations with the rest of Asia were less intense. A notable event was the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko to Vietnam on 28–30 March. Minsk and Hanoi signed an intergovernmental Protocol on industrial assembly in Vietnam; “MAZ-Asia” plant is under construction.

A visit of the Foreign Minister of Mongolia Damdin Tsogtbaatar to Belarus on 3–4 June was of less importance. He met with his Belarusian counterpart and then Prime Minister Kobyakov. This was the first visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia during the last 17 years, when interstate agreements on cooperation in the legal sphere were signed.

Africa: any delivery is diversification

There has been a shift in priorities concerning the relations with countries further south in the African continent. The Belarusian government closed its Embassy in Ethiopia and opened one in neighboring Kenya. Zimbabwe was also the most visible partner – Belarusian Chief of the Presidential Administration Viktor Sheiman visited the country in early March and mid-September. On 22–23 March, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrey Dapkiunas visited the Republic of South Africa where the 4th Meeting of the Committee for Trade and Economic Cooperation took place.

Belarusian diplomats are critical of the development of relations with the region. Problems in communication with African states remained typical, as in relations with the countries of the “far arc”.

Latin America: ‘revision’ of relations

Relations with Latin America continued to shift to the sidelines of Belarusian diplomacy. Perhaps the most significant event was the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador Maria Fernanda Espinosa Corses to Minsk on 17–19 May. Alexander Lukashenko called for an ‘audit’ of relations with Ecuador and drew a plan for the near future. He did not hide the fact that he would like to rely on Ecuador in the Latin American continent.8

On 18–19 June Minister of Justice and Public Security of Brazil, Torquato Jardim visited Belarus, which became the first visit of the Brazilian high-level official to our country. In addition, consultations with the foreign ministries of Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, Cuba, as well as contacts of the same level with Panama and the Latin American Parliament were held at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers.

Difficulties in building relations with the countries of the region made the Belarusian government coordinate with Russia even closer than with other partners. On 13 April, consultations between the foreign ministries of Belarus and Russia on relations with Latin American and Caribbean countries at the level of heads of geographical divisions were held in Minsk.9

Conclusion

Although relations with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America have retained a significant place in Belarusian foreign policy, this area is declining in importance. The exception to this is communication with China and some Asian and middle Eastern States. The government is now setting more realistic goals, and domestic economic entities are gradually finding opportunities in the markets of the “far arc”. This does not exclude the repetition of over-the-top declarations and high-risk deals, but these don’t form the basis of the Belarusian policy regarding the countries of the “far arc”. Policy has become partly balanced.