BOBRUISK, 17 June (BelTA) – Belarus is not alone in this world, and everyone is sick and tired of the dictate on the part of the West, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he addressed the staff of the Belshina company in Bobruisk, BelTA has learned.
“We will hold our ground, we will survive, we are not alone in this world. Everyone is already sick and tired of this dictate by the Americans and other Westerners. So the world is starting to change. The world will be completely different, even within two years. So don't worry. I once addressed you from a big rostrum and asked you to do your own thing. Leave other issues for me to deal with. We will endure, don't worry,” the president said.
Speaking about the sanctions, he explained why they were introduced. “If you were not competitive, if you did not stand in the way of American, Japanese manufacturers (they treat us as their rivals), if we had nothing to offer, no one would pressurize us.”
“We are a high-tech, educated nation. We can compete with others, which we will. We have everything necessary for our economy to survive and keep going. We have people, specialists, managers, the government. We make mistakes. Who doesn't? Maybe we could be a little better, half a step ahead. It is not always possible, however. Life is life. But we will survive. We will do it not just because we have to do this but because we can. Most importantly, our products and services are needed today as never before,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko is sure that the West uses all kinds of things as a reason for pressure and sanctions, human rights issues too. “It is all smokescreen. They cannot say that they have sanctioned us because we produce tires, can they? That would be ridiculous. No, they are talking about human rights, dictatorship and stuff like that. Now you see what human rights and dictatorship they have there. In the United States Joe Biden is most likely to lose the next election, but still he wants to run. So does Trump. They want to get rid of Trump and ban him from running. They criticized us for that. But we did not ban anybody from taking part in the election. They just wanted to turn the country upside down through this election. This is how they see human rights and freedom of speech,” the head of state said.
The president listed the successes of Belarus over the years of sovereign development. For example, the agricultural industry has made considerable progress while in the 1990s the country issued bread coupons and had empty shelves. "Today, the main thing is to earn more money. Your company can do it. Sell more tires and get more money," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
As for the impact of the sanctions on the supply of raw materials and components, settlements, the president acknowledged that there are difficulties but they are absolutely surmountable. For example, the sanctions have fueled prices for potash fertilizers. Even with smaller exports, Belarus will receive the necessary funds this year. “Hunger is looming in the world. Today foreign partners are already starting to look for ways to purchase fertilizers. I say, please come and buy. Belaruskali will not belly up. It will keep running. Maybe this year we will sell less potash fertilizers by volume, but will make up for this drop due to increased prices. We will pay salaries and receive taxes. We will not lose anything in terms of revenue," the head of state said.
He also mentioned the problem with Ukrainian grain export: "It turns out that the cheapest way is through Belarus. But we quickly figured out what they had in mind. Putin and I discussed this issue. I told him that they do not have grain in the volumes they claim. And it's not about the grain. They want to blame Putin and me for starving the world. Look, how mighty we are! We have created a famine in the world! We started to look into things and understood that they just want to pin another global problem on us and pit, for example, Africa and Asia, against us.”
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, when seven ways to export grain were proposed, the topic was immediately dropped. "There is no such topic on the agenda. This is the world we live in nowadays. So we will survive. There will be problems but we will solve them. Our products and services are very much in demand, primarily in Russia," the head of state summed up.
