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Belarus, Ukraine urged to focus on trade, cultural cooperation

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MINSK, 9 February (BelTA) - Belarus and Ukraine should concentrate on  trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, Belarusian Ambassador to Ukraine Igor Sokol said on the air of the Ukrainian NASH TV channel, BelTA has learned.

Ambassador Igor Sokol believes that Belarus and Ukraine should now concentrate on the development of trade and economic cooperation and cultural and humanitarian ties. He recalled the words of the Belarusian head of state, who said that Belarus is ready for the full restoration of contacts with Ukraine, but this requires the will of the Ukrainian side. “Until this will is shown, we need to focus on maintaining the multibillion-dollar trade," he said. According to the ambassador, in 2020 the bilateral trade amounted to $4.5 billion, with Belarusian exports totaling $3.1 billion.

The diplomat noted with regret that the interstate relations between Belarus and Ukraine have never been smooth, have always been up and down. "Our cooperation was either very close or was paused by mutual default," Ambassador Igor Sokol said.

This December, Belarus and Ukraine will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. But the countries are approaching this date, with the relations not in their best shape, the ambassador noted.

"We have hit pause again. At least, this is what Ukraine proclaimed. We did not take this pause because we have different priorities in diplomatic work: we are more into economic line of work rather than political,” the head of the Belarusian diplomatic mission explained. "This is why the political relations are now frozen and this is not our initiative, I repeat."

Ambassador Igor Sokol compared the Belarusian-Ukrainian relations with a line from Vladimir Vysotsky's song: "Not quite a friend, not quite an enemy, but just…" "In order to stop all allegations and insinuations on this topic, I would like to say to all neighbors, not only to Ukraine: the state of Belarus will not disappear from the map of Europe, the government in Belarus is strong. All the institutions of power are fully functioning," the diplomat said. He is confident that Belarus will deal, quickly and adequately, with the turbulence in the domestic political life.

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