The following are excerpts from an interview with Ambassador Andrei Popkov of Belarus in Seoul conducted by The Korea Post on the occasion of publication of A New Year Special Issue in January this year.—Ed.
Question: Based on your experience what are the most promising areas of bilateral economic cooperation between Belarus and Korea?
Answer: Belarus incentive is innovative economy and information society. Our country already has a very powerful IT hub. We are 36th in the world according to the Index of information and communication technologies, and hold 13th place among 20 countries-leaders in IT-outsourcing and high-tech services. In 2017 we can launch new joint projects in IT field.
According to the United Nations E-Government Survey 2016 on “E-Government in Support of Sustainable Development” Belarus stands on the 49th place out of 193 countries, and our ambition is to continuously improve our achievements.
At the same time Korea is the country that focuses on technology-driven economic growth, IT application and broad economic relations. In this regard the most promising areas of cooperation between our countries lie in the fields of precision engineering, electronics, robotics, aerospace, nano – and bio technologies, new materials, medical equipment, IT and software development.
Q: What are the prospects of Belarus for the New Year 2017?
A: Belarus and Korea will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in the upcoming year. It will certainly give an additional impetus to many bilateral diplomatic, economic and cultural events.
2017 is the 500th anniversary of book printing in Belarus and Eastern Europe. In 1517 Francisk Skorina, a famous Belarusian humanist and scientist, was the first to print the Bible in Eastern Europe. His legacy had a great influence on our culture and on the culture of our region.
2016 has been a Year of Culture in Belarus, and the next year has been declared as a Year of Science. We are planning to hold the 2nd Joint Committee on Science and Technology in Seoul. My hope is that it will boost exchanges between scientific communities of Belarus and Korea.
In addition, Belarus is also planning to host more than 70 international sports events in 2017.
Q: 2017 will be the year of the 25th anniversary of Belarus-Korea diplomatic relations. Are there any particular plans of cooperation in this regard?
A: The 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations will be celebrated on February 10 next year.
The next bilateral event to follow is our plan to conduct the 2nd session of Joint Committee on Science and Technology.
We are also considering the organization of several visits of high-ranking officials. It is our ambition to combine them with some large-scale economic and investment events.
We hope to host the delegations of Korean businessmen in Belarus as well.
Q: What are your wishes for the upcoming year to the readers of The Korea Post media?
A: My heartfelt wish is that the year 2017 will bring both our countries prosperity and new achievements, both domestically and on international arena, and make the people of our countries more familiar with each other’s unique culture, traditions and heritage.
I hope that in the next year we will witness a significant strengthening of our cooperation, the outburst of tourism and the expansion of business activities between Belarus and Korea.