Meeting with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana on 4 July.

The Belarusian head of state suggested finalizing and approving a bilateral cooperation roadmap.

Shehbaz Sharif renewed his invitation to the Belarusian head of state to visit Pakistan. Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked him for the meeting and significant help to fast-track Belarus' accession to the SCO as a full member. "Thank you for the cordial and friendly atmosphere of all our meetings at various international forums, including this one," said the Belarusian leader.

Aleksandr Lukashenko congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on his recent election as Pakistan's Prime Minister.

"I will try my best to visit Pakistan by the end of the year," said the Belarusian leader. "There will be a number of bilateral events this year. The joint intergovernmental commission is to convene in September. Our prime minister is set to attend the meeting of the SCO heads of government in Pakistan in October. I will really appreciate if you find time to meet with him. At this meeting we could finalize our action plan going forward. And you and I could approve this plan - the road map - during my visit to Pakistan before the end of this year," the President said.

"Probably, we are past the period when we were closely studying each other trying to figure out in what areas we could cooperate. It's time for us to move on to establishing the closest ties between our countries," the Belarusian leader added.

During the conversation, Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned his friendly relations with Nawaz Sharif, the brother of the incumbent Pakistani prime minister, who also headed up the government several years ago. The President hopes that Nawaz Sharif will also be in Islamabad during his visit.