MINSK, 17 January (BelTA) - On 17 January, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko convened a meeting to discuss foreign trade in 2025, BelTA learned.
The meeting brought together Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, Chairman of the National Bank Pavel Kallaur, State Secretary of the Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich, Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel, and Emergencies Minister Vadim Sinyavskyy.
“We will also talk about the foreign trade of Belarus this year,” the head of state said as he opened the meeting.
“The West does not seem to want to cooperate with us in economy, does not need our products. We understand it perfectly well. Unnecessary competition in automobile manufacturing, other industries is not on the agenda of Western countries controlled by the U.S.,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out. “It is no secret that today we trade mostly with countries in the eastern direction, although we are not completely abandoning economic cooperation with Western countries. We trade with them and sell the things they are interested in and what is profitable for us, but the volumes and the money are not the same. That is why we are going east. Russian Federation, People's Republic of China”.
The president said that some five countries of the East, including Pakistan, Indonesia and North Korea, have invited Belarus to hold highest-level meetings to discuss cooperation. “There are fundamental issues that need to be addressed. This is about mutual settlements, supplies of our military products, firefighting equipment and so on. Therefore, I invited you to discuss this range of matters and the areas of our cooperation - something that primarily our partners in the East are interested in,” the head of state said.
“Although we won't say that Venezuela in the west doesn't want to cooperate with us. Of course it does,” Aleksandr Lukashenko continued. “Many business circles offer cooperation. Even the United States has an interest in our country. We will wait. We are maintaining dialogue with the West on matters of interest to us. If we reach an agreement, we will cooperate. But this cooperation should meet the interests of our state and the priorities we have outlined," Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
The meeting brought together Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, Chairman of the National Bank Pavel Kallaur, State Secretary of the Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich, Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel, and Emergencies Minister Vadim Sinyavskyy.
“We will also talk about the foreign trade of Belarus this year,” the head of state said as he opened the meeting.
“The West does not seem to want to cooperate with us in economy, does not need our products. We understand it perfectly well. Unnecessary competition in automobile manufacturing, other industries is not on the agenda of Western countries controlled by the U.S.,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out. “It is no secret that today we trade mostly with countries in the eastern direction, although we are not completely abandoning economic cooperation with Western countries. We trade with them and sell the things they are interested in and what is profitable for us, but the volumes and the money are not the same. That is why we are going east. Russian Federation, People's Republic of China”.
The president said that some five countries of the East, including Pakistan, Indonesia and North Korea, have invited Belarus to hold highest-level meetings to discuss cooperation. “There are fundamental issues that need to be addressed. This is about mutual settlements, supplies of our military products, firefighting equipment and so on. Therefore, I invited you to discuss this range of matters and the areas of our cooperation - something that primarily our partners in the East are interested in,” the head of state said.
“Although we won't say that Venezuela in the west doesn't want to cooperate with us. Of course it does,” Aleksandr Lukashenko continued. “Many business circles offer cooperation. Even the United States has an interest in our country. We will wait. We are maintaining dialogue with the West on matters of interest to us. If we reach an agreement, we will cooperate. But this cooperation should meet the interests of our state and the priorities we have outlined," Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
The president suggests discussing a set of issues of foreign trade activities “in terms of specific states”.
“Syria offers us cooperation, asks our officials to come over and talk, to thrash out plans. Afghanistan is also interested in our products. The situation in both countries is complicated,” the Belarusian leader said. The president also mentioned the interest in cooperation on the part of African states, without specifying them, so that “the ‘falcons’ would not descend on them in order to put pressure”. “In fact, there are a dozen states that are happy to cooperate with us. Do we want this? We do. Will we be able to meet their needs? It is hard to say, our economy is not that huge, but we will push forward,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
“Syria offers us cooperation, asks our officials to come over and talk, to thrash out plans. Afghanistan is also interested in our products. The situation in both countries is complicated,” the Belarusian leader said. The president also mentioned the interest in cooperation on the part of African states, without specifying them, so that “the ‘falcons’ would not descend on them in order to put pressure”. “In fact, there are a dozen states that are happy to cooperate with us. Do we want this? We do. Will we be able to meet their needs? It is hard to say, our economy is not that huge, but we will push forward,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
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