Belarus is interested in carrying out joint projects with big Italian investors, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on 14 September in the course of his meeting with the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Finmeccanica, Pier Francesco Guarguaglini.

‘If such a large concern as yours has an interest in Belarus (and I have been already briefed on the opportunities for interaction between Belarus and your concern, and it took a whole page merely to list all of the opportunities), than we are delighted to welcome Italian businessmen in our country,’ said the Head of State.

‘In the course of our meeting with Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, we agreed that he would visit Belarus,’ said the President. ‘And I want us to be well-prepared for that visit.’ Alexander Lukashenko explained, ‘By that moment it would be nice to have if not specific contracts than at least clearly identified avenues of cooperation’.

The Head of State said that during such meeting the question normally arises, why meetings with businessmen are held at the presidential level. A strong enough argument here would be just to list the areas in which Finmeccanica operates: construction of helicopters, energy production, transport industry, information support for security systems, and many more areas. Finmeccanica has production affiliates in 29 countries. In H1 2009, this company’s revenues rose by 32 per cent in the face of the world crisis.

‘Therefore it is an honour for me to meet with such international business titans,’ said the President. He expressed the conviction that Finmeccanica would play a big role in the expansion of Belarusian-Italian cooperation.

One of the features of the Finmeccanica concern is that it spends nearly €2 billion every year on scientific research and pilot projects. ‘I think you will manage to find good partners in Belarus in this respect,’ said Alexander Lukashenko.

‘I will be glad to discuss your proposals and, if everything is ready, to take appropriate decisions as soon as today,’ concluded the President.

For his part, Pier Francesco Guarguaglini said that Finmeccanica hopes to expand cooperation with Belarus. ‘We are ready to hold negotiations in order to identify the productive avenues of our interaction,’ he said. ‘I am convinced that the Government of Italy and its head Silvio Berlusconi will be satisfied if we manage to reach positive results,’ he added.

The Chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica also said that the Italian Government has more than a 30 per cent stake in Finmeccanica, what makes the Government Finmeccanica’s biggest stakeholder.

The concern fulfils orders from customers from around the world. Around 20 per cent of orders come from Italy, 25 per cent from the United States and Great Britain, and many other countries. Pier Francesco Guarguaglini said that his country invests continuously in production development and implementation of new technologies.