India-Belarus Bilateral Relation

India’s relations with Belarus have been traditionally warm and cordial. India was one of the first countries to recognize Belarus as independent country in 1991. Formal diplomatic relations were established and the Indian diplomatic mission was opened in Minsk in 1992-with the first Resident Ambassador joining in January 1993-followed by the opening of Belarusian Embassy in New Delhi in 1998. Belarus opened its Honorary Consulate in Kolkata in December 2002 and in Mumbai in September 2018. In August 2022, the new Belarusian Consulate General in Mumbai was inaugurated.

Visits from India

1. MOS (External Affairs) Shri Salman Khurshid (1995)

2. Minister of Industry Shri Sikander Bakht (October 1998)

3. MOS (Coal) Shri Dilip Ray (1999)

4. MOS (External Affairs) Shri Omar Abdullah (2001)

5. MOS (S&T) Shri B.S. Rawat (2002)

6. Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Vikram Verma (2003)

7. Visit of MOS for Science and Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal(2004)

8. Vice President Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (October 2005)

9. MOS (Commerce & Industry) Shri Ashwani Kumar (2006)

10. Chief Minister of Delhi Smt. Sheila Dixit (September 2007)

11. Chief of the Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor (12-15 March 2008)

12. Chief Justice of India Shri Justice K.G. Balakrishnan (March 2009)

13. External Affairs Minister Shri S.M. Krishna (September 2009)

14. Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri M.M. Pallam Raju (October 2009)

15. Chief Justice of India Shri Justice K.G. Balakrishnan (April 2010)

16. Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri M.M. Pallam Raju (24-28 May 2011) for MILEX-2011

17. Minister of Coal Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal (16-19 June 2011)

18. Minister of State for IT and Communication Shri Sachin Pilot (11-13 January 2012)

19. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia (31 January 2012)

20. Minister of Culture Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch (October 2013)

21. Hon’ble President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee visited Belarus in June 2015 (2-4 June)

22. Minister of Commerce and Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman visited Minsk on 6-7 September 2015

23. MoS for Commerce and Industry, Shri C. R. Choudhary visited Minsk to co-Chair the 9th Session of IGC held in September, 2018

Visits from Belarus

1. Prime Minister, Mr. Vyacheslav Kebich (May 1993)

2. President Mr. Alexander Lukashenko (September 1997)

3. Foreign Minister Mr. Ivan Antonovich (1998)

4. Minister of Industry Mr. A.D. Kharlap (2001)

5. Prime Minister Mr. Gennady Novitski (November 2002)

6. Foreign Minister Mr. Mikhail Khvostov (2002)

7. Visit of the Minister of Defence Mr. L.S. Maltsev (2004)

8. Foreign Minister Mr. Sergei Martynov (February 2007)

9. Chief Election Commissioner Ms. Lydia Ermoshina on a study tour (March 2007)

10. President Mr. Alexander Lukashenko on a State visit (April 2007)

11. Defence Minister Colonel General Leonid Maltsev (February 2008) for Defexpo

12. Mr. Justice Poyotr P. Miklashevich, Head of Constitutional Court (13-15 November 2008)

13. Minister of Industry Mr. Anatoly Rusetski for 4th IGC (17-18 November 2008)

14. First Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Vladimir Semashko for the 4th Ministerial

15. Level Conference on Renewable Energy (25-27 Oct 2010)

16. Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Sergei Aleinik (21-22 Feb 2012) for Foreign Office Consultations.

17. First Deputy Minister of Information, Ms. Lilia Ananich

18. Prime Minister, Mr. Mikhail V. Myasnikovich, (14 November 2012) during IITF-2012, working visit

19. Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei (April 14-15, 2015) on an official visit

20. Minister of Industry Vitaly Vovk (19-22 May 2015) on official visit

21. Minister of Industry Vitaly Vovk (February 2016) for Make In India event.

22. Minister of Industry, Mr. Vitaly Vovk led the delegation for the 8th Session of the Indian-Belarusian Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation in July 2017.

23. State visit of President H.E. Mr. Alexander Lukashenko (11-12 September 2017)

24. Deputy Foreign Minister, H.E. Mr. Andrei Dapkiunas visited New Delhi to co-Chair the 6th Session of Foreign Office Consultations held in October, 2018.

25. Minister of Industry, H.E. Mr. Pavel Utiupin visited New Delhi to co-Chair the 10th Session of IGC held on 5th March 2020.

26. First Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Sergei Aleinik visited New Delhi for Foreign Office Consultations on 03 August 2022.

27. Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Vladimir Makei visited New Delhi to co-Chair the 11th session of the Inter- governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation on 10 November, 2022.

28. Deputy Minister of Industry H.E. Mr. Dmitry Kharitonchik visited New Delhi, leading a delegation of National Center for Marketing and Belarusian businesses during 17-20 March 2023.

29. Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Sergei Dubina took part in the Global Maritime India Summit 2023 in Mumbai during 17-19 October 2023

Parliamentary Exchanges

From India

1. Deputy Speaker Shri Atwal (2005)

2. Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha, Smt. Meira Kumar (20-22 May 2013)

3. Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha, Smt. Sumitra Mahajan (10-13 June 2018)

From Belarus

1. Chairman of the House of Representatives (Lower House) Mr. Vadim Popov (2002 & 2003)

2. Chairman of the Council of the Republic (Upper House) Mr. Gennady Novitsky (July 2006)

3. Chairman of the Belarusian Council of the Republic (Upper House) Mr. Mikhail Myasnikovich led a 5-member Parliamentary Delegation to India from 10-14 May 2016.

Institutionalized Mechanisms

The two countries enjoy a comprehensive partnership and have established mechanisms for exchanging views on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues through Foreign Office Consultations, Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), Joint Commission on Military Technical Cooperation, and other thematic bilateral mechanisms. The 7th round of FOCs was held in August 2022 in New Delhi, chaired by Secretary (West) and the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus. The 11th Session of the IGC-TEC was held on 10 November 2022 and was co-Chaired by FM Makei and Shri Som Prakash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry from the Indian side. The first India-Belarus Consular Dialogue was held in Minsk on 28th June 2024.

Development Cooperation

Belarus is a partner in the ITEC Program of the Ministry of External Affairs since 1993. Over 400 Belarusian professionals have benefited under the Program through various professional courses in designated institutions in India. Two weeks special training programme on mobile forensics was organized for Belarus Officials National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat under Aid to Eurasia/ITEC.

Bilateral Trade

(Source: Department of Commerce, India) 

[Note: The Belarusian trade data, after 2022is hidden, hence shows significant divergence from that of Department of Commerce. The updated bilateral trade data for 2023 is awaited from the Belarus side.]

The two countries have signed a number of Agreements/MoUs on various subjects, including trade and economic cooperation, culture, education, media and sports, tourism, science & technology, agriculture, textiles, Avoidance of Double Taxation, Promotion and Protection of Investments, and defence and technical cooperation. 

India’s exports to Belarus: 

India’s exports to Belarus presently include pharma products, cotton yarn, electric transformers, antibiotics, extracts of coffee/tea, rice, food including marine products,compounds of carbonic acid, ferrous metal goods, etc.

India’s imports from Belarus: 

India’s imports from Belarus include Potash, printed materials, plastic builders ware, flax, engineering parts , PVC, plastics, cord/tyres, glass fiber, hydrazine, carbon electronic sets, nylon threads etc. 

Indian Investment/Projects/Aid :

1. A Digital Learning Centre in ICT at High Technology Park in Minsk was set up with GoI’s assistance of Rs. 5 crores and is operational since February 2011.

2. BHEL was awarded a contract worth USD 55.5 million under GoI credit line for the supply and installation of equipment and machinery for the Grodno Power Project-II.  The project was commissioned in June 2013.  It is running successfully.

Cooperation in Culture

Indian art and culture, dance, yoga, ayurveda, films, etc. remain popular among Belarusian nationals. Many young Belarusians also take keen interest in learning Hindi and classical dance forms of India. Hindi classes had been started at Belarusian State University (BSU), Minsk in September 2017, the first batch of 15 students completed their 2-year course in July 2020. A Centre of Indian Culture at BSU, Minsk was inaugurated in July 2020. With the support of Local Resource Persons, classes of Yoga, Indian dance forms and Hindi, are held at the Embassy. Ms. Anastasia Bulankova, a Belarusian national participated in World Hindi Conference in Fiji.  ‘India Day’ was celebrated at the XXX ‘Listapad’ International Film Festival of Belarus. Indian Films ‘Gandhi Tatha Chettu’ won two awards and ‘Bawri’ won one award in different categories at the 30th edition of the Belarusian International Film Festival ‘Listapad’ held in November, 2024.

Indian Community

The Indian Community in Belarus is very small and consists of around 101 Permanent Residents and 1056 Temporary Residents, including 916 students, almost all of them pursuing studies in medicine in State medical universities in Belarus.Belarus is part of India’s e-visa program. Direct flights were started on the Minsk-Delhi route by Belavia in August 2023.

Ambassador of India in Belarus : Shri Ashok Kumar

Ambassador of Belarus in India : H.E. Mr. Mikhail Kasko

Website-https://www.eoiminsk.gov.in/

Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/IndiaInBelarus

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June, 2025