MINSK, 26 March (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with outgoing Russian Ambassador Dmitry Mezentsev, who has recently been appointed the State Secretary of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, BelTA has learned.
At the beginning of the meeting, the head of state touched on the topic of the epidemiological situation in the world, the production of COVID-19 vaccine in Belarus using the Russian technology and the work of scientists on a domestic vaccine. Aleksandr Lukashenko discussed these issues with Healthcare Minister Dmitry Pinevich just before the meeting with Dmitry Mezentsev.
Taking into account the meeting with Governor of Russia's Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako the day before, the president also raised the topic of interaction with the Russian regions. Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested exploring the development of cooperation with China in a trilateral format - through Primorsky Krai and beyond.
"I think we will open a new direction of cooperation with China, namely through the Far East," the Belarusian leader said. “Oleg Kozhemyako has great ties with Chinese partners. They bring and sell goods there which are then distributed all over Russia. For its part, the Far East freely sells many goods there. Why don't we, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Makei, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs] not use this channel to supply our goods to East China and the Asia-Pacific region in general? It is very interesting for us.”
“Proposals prepared by the Primorsky Krai government for the Belarusian construction complex, manufacturers of industrial products, agricultural sector are very impressive,” Dmitry Mezentsev said. “Given the unique position of the Far East, the system of relations with the People's Republic of China and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, this can provide a completely new quality and bring new profits, obvious benefits for Belarus, for producers of the real sector of the economy.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he plans to visit Primorsky Krai of Russia this year and discuss the cooperation more substantively. "Maybe I will be able to travel there in August and then we will have a very serious discussion," he said.
The head of state also recalled the need for more active development of relations with other Russian regions. "We have excellent relations with other regions, and we need to pay more attention, within the framework of the Union State, to these projects with the regions (Russia is huge), and try to solve concrete issues in this format," the president said.
