Landlocked Belarus is eying Latvia as its latest possible route to import oil from Venezuela, Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov said Monday, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on neighboring Russia.
Landlocked Belarus is eying Latvia as its latest possible route to
import oil from Venezuela, Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov said Monday, as it
seeks to reduce its reliance on neighboring Russia.
After meeting with his Latvian opposite number Aivis Ronis during a visit to
Riga, Martynov said his country was "seriously interested" in
creating a new "strategic transit" route through the Baltic states.
"Whether it will turn out, only time will tell," he said.
Latvia
's
southern neighbor
Lithuania
is
this week due to receive a trial tanker shipment of almost 550,000 barrels of
Venezuelan crude oil bound for
Belarus
.
The goal, Lithuanian authorities said last week, is to agree a long-term
contract to ship more than 13.7 million barrels a year.
Ex-Soviet Belarus has also used
Estonia
, the
northernmost of the Baltic trio, for a trial shipment.
Belarus
's
hardline President Alexander Lukashenko has boosted ties with
Venezuela
in a
drive to secure alternative oil supplies amid regular sparring with neighbor
and energy giant
Russia
.
The Baltic trio, which joined the European Union in 2004, have pitched trade
links as a way to help spur reforms in
Belarus
and
bring the country closer to the 27-nation bloc.
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