NUR-SULTAN, 25 October (BelTA) – The level of Belarus-Kazakhstan relations meets the strategic interests of the two countries, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with his Kazakhstan counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 25 October, BelTA has learned.
“The level of Belarus-Kazakhstan relations meets the strategic interests of our countries in full today. This is the result of multi-year hard work, which enables us to make serious plans for the future,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
In his words, Minsk and Nur-Sultan have gained positive experience of interaction at all levels and reached the highest degree of trust to discuss any issues openly and frankly. “A good basis for large-scale cooperation is created by similar priorities in social and economic development and a mutual desire to strengthen the real sector of the economy. We have placed a special emphasis on expanding the dialogue in the economic sector, since we have almost no unresolved issues in politics, military-technical cooperation, and diplomacy. We have similar views on the key issues on the international agenda,” the president stressed.
The Belarusian head of state stated that Kazakhstan is one of the key trade partners of Belarus. Over the past three years, mutual trade has more than doubled. In 2018, bilateral trade made up $900 million. “We are close to reach the $1bn threshold in trade. There is a certain imbalance in trade in favor of Belarus, but the import from Kazakhstan has grown significantly in recent years,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Belarus is ready to consider Kazakhstan's proposals to balance out the trade, the president said. “Agreements have been reached on all the issues on the bilateral agenda. We are ready to move forward to turn from traditional trade to a bigger number of joint companies,” the Belarusian leader said.
