Ahmadinejad visits, Lukashenko says Belarus, Iran developing 'strategic partnership'

Описание: (21 May 2007)
1. Mid of Iranian flag
2. Wide zoom out from motorcade passing by street
3. Wide pan and zoom into Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President getting out of limousine, shaking hands and embracing Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus
4. Wide of Ahmadinejad and Lukashenko
5. Wide of welcoming ceremony
6. Mid Ahmadinejad and Lukashenko walking on red carpet
7. Mid of Ahmadinejad and Lukashenko entering hall
8. Wide of Belarusian delegates
9. Close up of Lukashenko talking
10. Close up of Ahmadinejad talking
11. Wide of Iranian delegates
12. Wide of Ahmadinejad and Lukashenko signing documents
13. Mid of Ahmadinejad and Lukashenko shaking hands
14. Wide of ceremony
15. Mid of banner in street greeting Ahmadinejad
16. Wide of city street
STORYLINE:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the leader of Belarus, two countries at odds with the European Union and the United States, sought on Monday to cement ties that the Belarusian president called a strategic partnership.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Belarus on Monday for a two-day visit with Alexander Lukashenko, an authoritarian leader who has been courting other vehement opponents of the United States.
Belarus and Iran have huge potential for cooperation in the long-term perspective, Ahmadinejad said in televised comments, speaking through an interpreter, upon his arrival at Lukashenko's headquarters.
Lukashenko said Belarus is ready for cooperation in all directions.
He told Ahmadinejad that relations between Belarus and Iran have reached the level of strategic partnership, according to the presidential press service.
The Iranian leader, meanwhile, said he considers the Belarusian president one of his best friends.
Ahmadinejad was also expected to tour Belarusian enterprises and a national library in the ex-Soviet republic of ten (m) million people.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said last week that the main issues to be discussed during the visit concerned energy, trade and science.
Ahmadinejad led a delegation including the foreign minister, commerce minister, lawmakers and the director of an Iranian auto company, according to Belarusian officials.
Lukashenko, who visited Iran in November, is widely referred to in the West as "Europe's last dictator" for stifling government opponents and independent news media in the country whose economy remains largely under Soviet-style state control.
Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who became the Iranian president in 2005, is locked in a standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear program, which the United States and other nations fear is a front for an effort to develop atomic weapons.
He praised the visiting Lukashenko in November as a brave and powerful leader for opposing US policies.
Iran is under United Nations Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, while Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials have been hit with US and EU travel bans and financial sanctions as punishment for strangling freedoms.
A year ago, Lukashenko hosted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, another vocal US critic, who made Belarus the first stop on a tour that also took him to Russia, Iran and Vietnam.
Belarus has close ties to neighbouring Russia, but they have been frayed in recent years by disputes over energy prices and supplies.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister on Monday reiterated that the standoff over Iran's nuclear program should be resolved through dialogue, and that international efforts must focus only on preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

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