Lukashenko on BRICS: Belarus's place is in this collective

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, in an interview with Chinese television channel CGTN in Kazan, clearly explained the benefits for Belarus from participating in BRICS events. Primarily, it offers the opportunity to simultaneously communicate with a large number of leaders from different countries, which would otherwise take several years if conducted on a bilateral level, reports BELTA correspondent.
"Our place – Belarus's – is in this collective. Our place is there. Because our views on the global agenda coincide, our views on the world coincide, we have practically the same goals. We strive for a multipolar world, we are against dictatorship in the world, and so on. We are open, our economy is open. We are a technological country. We can share our technologies, competencies, and people's skills with many BRICS countries," stated Alexander Lukashenko.

The Head of State was asked what BRICS means for Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko said that in just a few hours at the forum, he managed to hold a series of bilateral meetings and gave three interviews to various media outlets. "This is a great opportunity to hold negotiations with the leaders of leading states in a few hours. You know perfectly well which states are in BRICS. It's practically half the world in terms of production, population, and territory. Almost half the world. What does a compact, small European Belarus need? It needs contacts, agreements," said the President.

He noted that following the meetings with leaders of different countries, Belarusians have found good opportunities in practically each of these states: "We can promote, establish closer relations with these states, with whose representatives I held negotiations. For example, we have not yet met with the leadership of Russia or China here in Kazan. But why should we meet… We already meet frequently with the leadership of China and Russia. We have excellent relations with them."

Alexander Lukashenko cited his negotiations with the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, as an example: "The competencies we have, the technologies for development – they are sufficient for Ethiopia for decades to come. An interesting, powerful country. Interesting for Russia, China, America, and so on. But they invite us. What's wrong with that? And we have agreed on many issues with them."
"The same goes for Laos, and other countries with which I have had negotiations. And this was literally in four to five hours. And if I work here for two days, I will have contacts and agreements with a dozen countries. If this were not the case, I might need five to seven years to visit these countries and hold negotiations, i.e., this (BRICS. – BELTA’s note) is a good platform for agreements. Not just to get acquainted (we are already acquainted with everyone), but to build our relations, to develop a roadmap, a plan for our future relations. This is a great thing for any country. Especially for Belarus," the Belarusian leader summarised.

belta.by