Culture and Education Cooperation

Continuing from the Soviet era, Belarus has a strong affinity towards Indian culture. Indian films, dance and music remain popular in Belarus. Many young Belarusians have keen interest in learning Hindi and classical dances of India. 
The Embassy of India offers free classes for yoga, Indian classical dance forms, as well as Hindi. The classes are very popular amongst the people in Minsk. In addition to classes, the trained students also perform in Indian cultural shows organized by the Embassy in Minsk and other cities of Belarus.

During April 2022 – March 2023, Embassy celebrated the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations with music and dance concerts of Indian classical art forms, performed by Belarusian artists. In July 2022, an Indian performing troupe “Bhairi Bhavani” visited Belarus and performed at the prestigious Slaviyanski Bazaar in Vitebsk. The troupe also performed in the cities of Minsk and Gomel.  On 9 November 2023, Programme of Cooperation between India and Belarus in the field of culture for 2023-25 was signed. A 10-member delegation delegation from Belarus, with 7 singers from "Polesskie Zori" and 3 craftspeople, participated in the 37th Surajkund Mela in India in February 2024. 

In the last few years, new Indian movies have been released in Belarus, including on the same date as the Indian release. To sustain and build on the interest in Indian cinema, Embassy organizes regular screenings of Indian films dubbed in Russian. Festival of Indian Cinema have been held in Minsk and other cities during 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

During 2024, a Days of Indian Cinema were organised in Vitebsk, Grodno, Gomel and Minsk, to commemorate the anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Belarus. In March, 2025 Days of Indian Cinema was organised in Minsk. It was inaugurated by Ambassador Ashok Kumar with a screening of the Hindi film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The Embassy also organized cinema days in Vitebsk, Grodno, and Gomel to celebrate Indian film popularity across Belarus.

A Belarusian Sanskrit scholar Prof. Mikhail Mikhailov wrote a book “Key to Vedas” in Russian which has been translated into English. Another Belarusian Indophile, the late Ms. Taisa Bondar had translated Saint Kabir’s verses in Russian language. In July 2016, a book 'First Mandala' of 'Rigveda' translated from Sanskrit into Belarusian language by Belarusian writer and poet Igar Kulikov was released.

A bust of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled by President of India on 3rd June 2015 in Belarusian State University.

Belarus has also shown interest in establishing cooperation in joint production of feature films involving Indian and Belarusian artists. 

There have been ongoing educational links from the Soviet days. Currently, there are  916 Language, Journalism, Diplomacy, Entrepreneurship, Water Resource Development, Internet Security, Crime Management, Legislative drafting for foreign parliamentary and Government officials, etc.

Students from India studying, mostly medicine, in various Universities and Institutions in Belarus.

Belarus is a beneficiary of India’s ITEC programme with 15 slots for short-term training courses for 2025-26. Around 400 experts and specialists from Belarus have benefited from ITEC programme in diverse areas such as Information Technology, Management, Administration, Banking & Finance, Education & Human Resource Development, English. The Mission celebrated the annual ITEC Day 2025 on 09th October 2025, which saw the participation of about 60 ITEC alumni. In addition, Mission also organised two interactive sessions of ITEC alumni in the Chancery premises on 06 February 2026 and 10 March 2026.

The Mission is celebrating IYD regularly since 2014. The 11th International Day of Yoga was celebrated on 19h June, 2025. The Government of Belarus has extended support in the conduct of the International Days of Yoga continuously since 2015. In addition to the Yoga classes, since 1 June 2022, classical dance and Bollywood/folk classes are conducted on the Embassy premises by Local Resource Persons (LRPs) sponsored by ICCR.

April 2026