MINSK, 18 March (BelTA) – The situation has forced Belarus to take a closer look at remote countries. Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov made the statement on the air of the TV channel Belarus One after delivering a report to Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko earlier on 18 March, BelTA has learned.
The official pointed out: “The pandemic period followed by some cooling off in relations with our Western partners has resulted in our being more active on foreign markets, markets of so-called third countries. Those are remote countries, which are called the Global Majority today.”
He continued: “The Global Majority is all the countries that share the values of multipolarity, multiculturalism, respect for each other’s sovereignty, and the non-use of force. These are the postulates that are the foundation of all the main approaches in the UN system. By the way, we see that the USA is getting closer and closer…”
“Actually the situation has forced us to take a closer look at remote countries,” the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs stressed. “Since our neighbors here, right across the border, very close neighbors don’t want to use advantages of cooperation with Belarus or cooperation via Belarus and Russia with other states – with China, with the East, well, as a matter of fact, we will not stand at the border with a hat in hand and try to convince them [otherwise].”
The minister believes: “We can only appeal to the population of these countries and tell them to ask their governments why utility rates are going up, why the infrastructure is in poor state, why all the young people have moved away, why at last the demographic situation in some Baltic neighbors of ours is catastrophic today and all the young people simply go away because they see no perspective in their own countries.”
Maxim Ryzhenkov noted that it would be more profitable to work with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, with the European Union. “And it would be profitable for them. It would be even more profitable for them to engage in normal trade with Russia, including manufacturing cooperation, the acquisition of a resource base, and so on. But they have made their choice and as a matter of fact, it determines their actions. And as you can see, many politicians in Lithuania speak up in favor of cooperation with Russia, with Belarus,” the minister concluded.
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