Presidents of Belarus, Equatorial Guinea hold talks, sign cooperation roadmap

MINSK. Dec 11 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has had negotiations with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the narrow-format meeting lasted for more than an hour on Saturday.

"The presidents communicated in the narrow format for one hour and 20 minutes," the First Man's Pool Telegram channel close to the Belarusian presidential administration said.

Mbasogo decorated Lukashenko with the Independence Order, it said.

"Alexander Lukashenko affirmed a high development potential of Equatorial Guinea during narrow-format negotiations," the Belarusian presidential press service said.

"You are truly a small country, but with enormous capacities. Some of the sites I have seen here are stunningly beautiful. I think it would be challenging for us to build such sites," Lukashenko said.

Belarus is ready to cooperate, share practices and technologies in various fields, and help train personnel, he said.

The presidents signed a cooperation roadmap for 2024-2026 at the end of the negotiations, the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA said. "The roadmap is based on the needs of Equatorial Guinea and has a comprehensive nature," the agency said.

The document embraces 15 key areas, including cooperation projects, delivery and service of Belarusian hardware, agriculture, healthcare, pharmaceutics, sale of medical equipment, and forestry.

Lukashenko began his African tour on Saturday.