Belarus President Lukashenko arrives in Islamabad on three-day official visit

• PM Shehbaz receives President Lukashenko at Nur Khan Airbase.
• Belarusian president to hold extensive talks with Pakistani leadership.
• Both countries to discuss areas of "bilateral cooperation".

ISLAMABAD: Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko arrived in Islamabad on Monday to lead a 68-member business delegation for a three-day visit with an aim to bolster bilateral cooperation through a number of agreements in various sectors of economy.

The visting dignitary was received by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials, including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, at Nur Khan Airbase.

According to a curtain raiser issued by the Foreign Office, the Belarusian president “will hold extensive talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and discuss areas of bilateral cooperation and engagement”.

Furthermore, the statement said that several agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) will be signed during the visit.

A day earlier, a 68-member high-level delegation from Belarus arrived in the federal capital, which included Belarus' foreign minister, energy minister, minister for justice, minister for transport, minister for natural resources, minister for emergency situations, and chairman of the Military Industry Committee.

Forty-three prominent business personalities of Belarus are also part of the delegation.

Prime minister of Belarus, Roman Golovchenko, was in Islamabad earlier this year for the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) Meeting, where he met his counterpart among other key leaders.

The visit comes amid Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) "do-or-die" protest call, which prompted authorities to seal off Islamabad’s Red Zone.

The former ruling party has demanded the release of incarcerated leaders, including PTI founder Imran Khan, the return of "stolen mandate" in the February 8 elections and the withdrawal of the judiciary-centric 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The former ruling party, for months, has been engaged in a political tug-of-war with the ruling coalition — which it alleges came into power via rigged February 8 polls — and has held multiple protests in the federal capital.