Belarusian leader against politicizing processes in Common Economic Space
MINSK. April 25 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he agrees with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev that integration processes between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus should not be politicized.
"I totally agree with Nursultan Abishevich [Nazarbayev] that the processes under way in this organization [Common Economic Space] should not be politicized under any circumstances. We are in no hurry. We are moving forward calmly, tackling problems that have already accumulated," Lukashenko said at a meeting with Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov in Minsk on Thursday.
"God help us solve them. If we manage to sort them out, we will really be able to move further without creating any fences," he said.
"As far as Kazakhstan is concerned, we, you and Russia have established hopefully a very promising organization that will help both the states and the people living in these states," the Belarusian president said.
"The existing Common Economic Space has produced results both for Belarus and Kazakhstan," he said.
Bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Belarus stood at more than $1 billion in 2012, Lukashenko said.
"We could only dream about it, about this trade volume. But we have it today," he said.