US embassy cable - 05MINSK1324

UNCLAS MINSK 001324 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/UMB AND NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, ETRD, BO, IR 
SUBJECT: Belarus Cozies Up to Iran 
 
Ref: Minsk 337 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: In recent months Belarus and Iran have 
greatly increased their contacts and friendly rhetoric, 
including an invitation for Belarusians to work on the 
Iranian nuclear program and improve trade ties.  Belarusian 
factories are being founded in Iran, and Iranian 
businessmen are searching Belarus for investment 
opportunities.  To top off this growing friendship, the 
Speaker of the Iranian Parliament is expected in Minsk in 
December.  End summary. 
 
 
Iran Invites Belarusian Nuclear Scientists 
------------------------------------------ 
 
2. (U) On October 11, Iran's Ambassador to Belarus 
Abdulhamid Fekri told reporters Iran invited Belarusian 
scientists to work on Iran's nuclear program.  He did not 
say if any concrete offers were made.  Fekri naturally 
stressed that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, and only 
faces problems internationally because the U.S. wants to 
control Iranian oil.  He added that Belarus would come 
under similar pressure if it goes ahead with plans to build 
a nuclear power plant (reftel).  Fekri also thanked Belarus 
for its unwavering international support. 
 
3. (U) On September 19 in New York, Foreign Minister Sergey 
Martynov told Iran's FM that, "Belarus fully recognizes and 
supports Iran's right to develop and use peaceful nuclear 
technologies, provided the country observe the non- 
proliferation regime."  According to the press, during the 
meeting the two agreed to further develop relations at the 
highest level, increase cooperation on the international 
scene, and boost bilateral trade. 
 
 
Increasing Commercial Ties 
-------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) In the past several months Belarus and Iran have 
vastly increased their commercial ties.  On October 12 
Belarus' MFA announced Iran had agreed to buy 500 tractors 
from the Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ).  [Note: "tractors" here 
means unspecified road and farm machinery.]  On the same 
day Iranian Ambassador Fekri said Belarus and Iran had 
agreed to build an assembly plant for the Minsk Tractor 
Plant in Busher, and to build an assembly plant for 
tractor-mounted agricultural equipment in Shiraz.  [Note: 
the Minsk Tractor Plant produces tractors, road equipment, 
and heavy off-road capable equipment.  Much of this is dual 
purpose.]  In June 2004 MAZ created a joint venture, 
MAZIRAN, that in its first year assembled 130 MAZ trucks in 
Iran, worth USD 15 million.  The Belarusian Embassy in 
Tehran manages a network of repair centers for Belarusian 
vehicles, and reportedly opened a maintenance and storage 
center in a Tehran industrial area. 
 
5. (SBU) In late July, representatives of Iran's Khodro 
carmaker visited Minsk.  With the aid of Vladimir Konoplev, 
speaker of the lower house of parliament, Khodro announced 
plans to start producing cars in Belarus.  Khodro plans to 
work with Belarusian company Unison (managed by Konoplev 
aide Aleksey Vaganov) to produce 2,000 cars a year to 
start, with growth of up to 30,000 vehicles annually.  In 
September, Iranian businessmen visited Minsk to investigate 
the possibility of producing Samant cars in Belarus as 
well. 
 
6. (U) Iran's Keyson company has agreed to build a USD 
113.05 million transport service complex near Minsk on the 
BrestQMoscow highway.  The first stage, worth USD 50 
million, is scheduled to be complete by 2013 and will 
include a motel and service areas for trucks.  Another 
unnamed Iranian company is reportedly building a USD 6 
million office and commercial center in Minsk.  Iranian 
businessmen have reportedly come to Minsk to investigate 
investing in woodworking, additional construction projects, 
and the purchase of potassium fertilizers. 
7. (U) Belarusian exports for 2004 rose 62.5 percent to USD 
33.3 million, according to the GOB.  Belarus mainly exports 
truck tractors, road and construction equipment, and dump 
trucks.  It also exported lesser amounts of acrylic fibers, 
potassium fertilizers and tire-cord fiber.  Iran is 
believed to have exported USD 3.4 million worth of goods to 
Belarus in 2004, although it is unclear what those goods 
were. 
 
Loving Rhetoric 
--------------- 
 
8. (U) Both sides have engaged in recent months with public 
exhortations of friendship.  Speaking to a group of Iranian 
politicians and businessmen in Minsk on September 14, 
Konoplev said, "We have met with our Iranian friends more 
often recently."  On August 31, chairman of the Iranian 
legislature Gholam Ali Hadda Adel stated to the Belarusian 
Ambassador, "Iran and Belarus adhere to similar stances on 
many international problems: Tehran and Minsk are both 
concerned about NATO's eastward enlargement, are interested 
in the creation of a nuclear free zone, and support efforts 
to combat international terrorism."  Ambassador Leonid 
Rachkov replied, "The West seeks to dominate the world," 
therefore Belarus-Iranian cooperation was "increasingly 
more important geopolitically." 
 
9. (U) Iranian Ambassador Fekri told reporters in July that 
ever since President Mohammed Khatami visited Minsk in 
September 2004, "relations were developing every day and 
every hour." 
 
10. (U) In May the Belarusian parliament ratified an 
agreement on administrative assistance and customs 
cooperation with Iran.  It also ratified a security 
agreement aimed at combating smuggling of historic and 
cultural goods, arms and ammunition, explosives, fighting 
money laundering, trafficking in people, cyber crime, and 
"crimes against the national security of the state." 
 
 
And Both Want to Increase Scientific Cooperation 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
11. (U) According to the press, on October 22 Belarusian 
Ambassador to Tehran Leonid Rachkov told Iran's Minister of 
Science, Research and Technology Mohammed-Mehdi Zahedi that 
Belarus would like to increase scientific cooperation with 
Iran.  He specifically mentioned increasing bilateral 
relations on information technology, power generation, 
environmental protection, and medical engineering.  Rachkov 
also called for increasing academic exchanges, conducting 
joint research, and invited Zahedi to Belarus "to sign 
joint agreements." 
 
 
Visits/meetings 
--------------- 
 
12. (U) Lukashenko spent less than a day in New York at the 
UNGA, and only managed a handful of meetings.  However, he 
did find time to meet with Iranian President Mahmud 
Ahmadinejad to discuss "trade, economic and political 
cooperation."  [Note: Lukashenko also met with the Iraqi 
and Moldovan presidents, and the head of the CIS.] 
 
13. (U) To facilitate travel, in July Iran began offering 
Belarusians free visas upon arrival in Tehran, Esfahan, 
Tabriz and Mashad.  The Iranian Ambassador to Minsk is also 
reportedly trying to establish a direct air link between 
Minsk and Tehran. 
 
14. (U) A surprising number of Iranian delegations travel 
to Minsk [Note: contacts report they travel by air through 
Kiev.]  In September, delegations included the heads of the 
commissions for agriculture, water, natural resources, and 
mining of the Assembly of the Islamic Council, as well as 
businessmen from an Iranian tractor plant.  In June, 
Iranian businessmen visited Gomel Oblast, where they are 
considering starting a woodworking business and investing 
in the Oktyabrsky Dried Fat-Free Milk Plant.  The Speaker 
of the Iranian parliament is scheduled to visit Minsk in 
December. 
 
 
Birds of a Feather 
------------------ 
 
15. (SBU) Comment: With Minsk and Teheran generally 
isolated internationally, it is little surprise they are 
cozying up to each other, even despite their complete lack 
of historical cultural ties.  In a similar vein Lukashenko 
recently hosted the Venezualan Foreign Minister, and has 
reached out to other pariahs, such as Syria and Cuba.  With 
his access to the First World restricted by his own 
policies, Lukashenko is seeking friends who are not so 
choosy. 
 
KROL