News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 18 February (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko suggests implementing a number of new projects in Belarus to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as he met with EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti on 18 February, BelTA has learned.

In particular, Alexander Lukashenko suggested considering the investment of funds to public utilities projects and noted that Belarus has done a lot to reform the public utilities sector.

Another cooperation avenue is the modernization of the transport system. “There is an outstanding situation with transit from east to west and vice versa due to the events in Ukraine. Therefore, Belarus is the only safe and reliable route. Due to the growing flow of transport via Belarus we are afraid that our infrastructure can be overloaded. That is why we are promptly modernizing the transport system, both automobile and railway transport,” the Belarusian leader said.

Alexander Lukashenko noted that the Belarusian side asked the World Bank to support this initiative. The bank is not against. Belarus also asks the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for help. “We could resolve this issue within two years, because if we do not do it, the flow of transport via Belarus could be too high for us to handle in the future,” the head of state said.

The Belarusian president also spoke about cooperation in agribusiness. “We will be glad if you are interested in these projects,” the Belarusian leader said.

Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus is interested in the development of cooperation with the EBRD. “I understand that there are no serious problems between us. If it is true, I guarantee that it will be the same in the future. You will not have problems in cooperation with Belarus. If we agree, we will guarantee this cooperation on behalf of the state, will support it, will do our best to make this cooperation efficient and honest, safe and free from corruption,” the Belarusian president stressed.

The EBRD president, in turn, assured that the cooperation between the bank and Belarus has been increasingly vibrant in the past three years. The bank invested over €700 million in the country in spite of the restrictions. “I am very proud of the fact that we could attract good investors to Belarus,” Suma Chakrabarti said and added that he is, first of all, referring to Stadler.