Belarus not planning to quit European market despite sanctions - PM

MINSK. March 11 (Interfax) - Despite the ongoing European sanction pressure, Belarus does not plan to leave this market, Prime Minister Alexander Turchin said.

"It's clear that Europe is continuing its sanctions pressure, but we should not leave this market," the government press service quoted Turchin as saying at a Belarusian Foreign Ministry board meeting on Wednesday.

"Western businesses are not happy at all about decisions of European institutions and are interested in cooperation with us. Therefore, we need to keep on actively developing contacts, not to miss any windows of opportunity, and do our utmost to not only maintain but also consolidate our positions on the European market," Turchin said, urging diplomats to insistently communicate to their European partners Minsk's opinion that the sanction approach leads to an impasse.

Russia has been, is, and will remain Belarus's strategic partner; as for Belarus's other CIS partners, it has not fully utilized potential for cooperation with them, Turchin said.

"Despite the high level of political contacts, the potential for cooperation with other of our conventional CIS partners is not being fully utilized. My official visits to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan showed that there are more than enough projects of interest to us there. Kyrgyzstan's market also has enormous potential not used to the full extent possible," he said.

Turchin also called for stepping up engagement with non-CIS countries.

"The socioeconomic development program sets the goal of increasing Belarusian exports to those countries to one-third of total exports within the five-year period," he said.