OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has sent greetings to Italy President Sergio Mattarella on the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

“Over the past quarter of a century our countries have done a lot to establish solid friendly ties. Belarus is a reliable and predictable partner of Italy today,” the message of greetings reads.

The head of state mentioned the importance of the fact that more than 500,000 Belarusian children from Chernobyl-hit regions visited Italy as part of recuperation programs. This cooperation is not only an invaluable example of solidarity of Italian people, it is also a foundation for the further development of close relations.

“Apart from the big trade volumes, Italy is one of the leaders in terms of the number of joint and foreign enterprises in Belarus,” the President of Belarus stressed. “Italian companies are one of Belarus’ main partners in the modernization of the metallurgical, wood processing, and agricultural branches of our economy. We will be glad to take part in new large-scale projects together with the flagships of the Italian economy.”

Alexander Lukashenko expressed confidence that together Belarus and Italy can do more for the development of bilateral cooperation.