North Korea and Belarus forge new economic cooperation pact
North Korea and Belarus have signed an agreement on trade and economic cooperation, the North Korean agency KCNA reported on Friday, without providing details of the deal. Both sides discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in agriculture, the machinery industry, public health, and education.
The document was signed in Pyongyang on Thursday during a meeting of the Belarusian delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Shuleyko, with North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Jong Myong Su.
"Issues of practical mutual cooperation in various sectors, including agriculture, the machinery industry, public health, trade, and education, were discussed in detail during the meeting," KCNA noted.
This was the third meeting of the intergovernmental committee for trade and economic cooperation, the first since June 2006.
The Yonhap agency points out that cooperation between the two countries in the field of machinery could violate UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting member states from supplying North Korea with industrial machinery.
Belarus is one of the few countries with which the isolated North Korea is strengthening economic ties despite severe international sanctions. Both regimes are close allies of Russia and support its invasion of Ukraine.
