Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Belarus. He said the president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to be one of his “best friends” and granted Belarus access to the Jofeir oil field.
Leaders referred to in the West as outcasts and dictators, accused of crackdown on democracy and human rights, showed warm friendship. “We’re friends and we’re anxious to favour cooperation with Belarus every possible” - Ahmadinejad said.
“Belarus and Iran are subjects of international law and there are no forbidden issues in our cooperation. We are ready to collaborate with Iran in all directions” - said Lukashenko. “We state our opposition to a unipolar world and to any country's effort to exert influence on another” - continued Ahmadinejad.
During the two-day visit of the Iran president several pleasant meetings and arrangements are prepared. He is to meet with the first vice-premier Vladimir Semashko and visit the National Belarusian Library.
But the main issue - wherefore were all that compliments - happened in the first day: Belarus got the opportunity to become an oil-producing country. Ahmadinejad reported that plan of the Belarus national oil company Belarusneft concerning development of the Jofeir oil field had been approved by Tegeran. For Belarusian oil industry it is the first international project. Moreover Ahmadinejad proposed to Belarus to participate also in development of the near natural gas field.
Lukashenko did not hide his pleasure. “Today you told that in the nearest future we’ll be able to produce crude in Iran, to refine it or even to export it in any region of the world. The same thing is about the natural gas. On behalf of all the Belarusian people I want to thank you once more for such an extraordinary favour”.
Nevertheless all these projects will not be sufficient to make Minsk fully independent from Russian energy resources. Moreover this project of cooperation between two countries is of a some interest also for Russia, since one of its investors is J/V Vietsovpetro, that belongs for one half to Russian Joint Stock Company Zarubezhneft.
In its tern Iran shows interest in Belarusian high-tech military equipment and automatic Air Defense System. Belarusian experts don’t rule out that Iran can get from Belarus some modernized anti-aircraft missile complexes that were transferred to the reserve in 2006.
Last year the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, who also considered to be an irreconcilable adversary of the USA visited Belarus. He went for negotiations concerning Belarusian participation in oil producing in Venezuela. Two presidents had a very nice time keeping on at American administration.
