Belarus willing to promote cooperation with Ecuador

Belarus is ready to develop cooperation with Ecuador, particularly in economic fields, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told local media on Monday. During a meeting with Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino Aroca, Lukashenko said "we are ready to engage in an active dialogue with your country, and develop cooperation." "We have absolutely no restrictions and closed themes," Lukashenko added. Aroca expressed hope that contacts between Ecuador and Belarus would continue to be fruitful. "We will be looking for areas of common interests both on the bilateral and international agendas," he said. The minister said "the potential for bilateral relations is huge and still untapped." "We have great opportunities to shift from simple trade to cooperation," he said During Aroca's visit, a bilateral joint intergovernmental agreement on trade and economic cooperation was signed. Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov said the two countries discussed the possibility to exchange trade and economic delegations and agreed to prepare a common action plan to identify major cooperation trends. "We opted for a deep integration and economic cooperation, not just boosting export and import," Martynov said. Over the five years up to 2010, the bilateral trade between Belarus and Ecuador had doubled to reach 38.6 million U.S. dollars, with Belarusian export being 12.1 million dollars. Belarus' major exports to Ecuador are potash and nitrogen fertilizers. Its major imports from Ecuador include bananas, flowers, coffee and tea concentrates.