Lukashenko: Economy should be at the heart of Belarus-Russia unity

Economy should be at the heart of the unity of Belarus and Russia, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Novosibirsk Oblast Governor Andrei Travnikov, BelTA reports.

“The unity of the two states should rely, first of all, on economy. This is how we see it from Belarus. If we maintain momentum in economy, if our relations with Russia in general are as good as with many of its regions, including yours, believe me, in this case no promotional activities will be needed,” the head of state emphasized.

The two countries have everything in place to build on positive momentum, the Belarusian leader remarked. During many years of cooperation, they have already realized and analyzed their mistakes and faults, and are now moving forward together in the right direction.

“In the first days of the sanctions, I reiterated in Russia and at large forums that we would get out of this situation and it would not take much time to do it,” the president noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko proved to be right after 1.5-2 years. Thus, it is necessary to go on with the efforts to intensify cooperation, rectify the mistakes made at the initial stage. “Thank God that we have preserved our unity,” the president emphasized, characterizing the relationship between Belarus and Russia.

Commenting on the withdrawal of foreign companies from Belarus and Russia in the wake of sanctions, Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “So, goodbye.”

“Throughout my entire presidency, I have persistently been telling Russia that we need to develop our own capacities,” he continued. “There is no need to spend dollars earned from selling oil and gas on foodstuffs or nuts and bolts. We knew how to do it on our own.” The head of state emphasized that Russia and Belarus should avoid overlapping of production when deepening cooperation.

“I'm glad that Russia has finally seen what Belarus' economy is capable of. In fact, there is hardly any large or medium-sized enterprise in our country that has shut down. Most of them are state-owned (maybe the Russians don't like this), they are doing well, they are manageable at least. And today we are developing large-scale cooperation [with the Russian side]. We just cannot allow overlapping of production (we have no extra money). Our products will always find a buyer on the Russian market. Likewise, we will always buy your products if we need them. Thus, overlapping should not be allowed,” the president emphasized.