Belarus not rejecting economic cooperation with West - Lukashenko
MINSK. Jan 17 (Interfax) - Belarus is not rejecting economic cooperation with the West, which, however, is not interested in such cooperation today, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday at a meeting on foreign trade in 2025.
"We will also talk about the foreign trade of Belarus this year. The West does not seem to be willing to cooperate with us in the economy and 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 whipped up by the U.S.," Lukashenko was quoted by his press service as saying.
"It is no secret that today we are engaged in trade mostly with countries in the east, although we are not completely ceasing economic cooperation with Western countries. We trade with them and sell the items 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 - to Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China," he said.
However, there are circles in the West, including the United States, that are interested in cooperation with Belarus, and Minsk continues dialogue with Western countries, Lukashenko said.
"Even in the U.S., there are people who have an interest in our country. We will wait. We are continuing 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," Lukashenko said.
Some five countries of the East, including Pakistan, Indonesia and North Korea, have invited Belarus to hold top-level meetings to discuss cooperation, he said.
"Syria offers us cooperation, asks our officials to come over and talk. Afghanistan is also interested in our products. The situation in both countries is complicated," Lukashenko said.
A number of African countries are also interested in cooperating with Belarus, Lukashenko said, but declined to name these countries so that "the 'falcons' would not descend on them in order to exert pressure."
"In fact, there are a dozen states that are happy to cooperate with us. Do we want it? Yes, we do. Will we be able to meet their needs? It's hard to say as our economy is not that huge, but we will do our best," Lukashenko said.