News & Events in Belarus

Lukashenko urges CSTO countries to develop joint plan of actions in economy

MINSK, 20 June (BelTA) - For the CSTO countries, it is necessary to develop a common plan of joint actions, primarily in the economy, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with the ministers of foreign affairs of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Minsk on 20 June, BelTA has learned.

The head of state mentioned the work of integration associations in the post-Soviet space and gave a number of positive examples. Thus, at the previous meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow, issues of alignment of integration processes, the development of alternative payment systems, and the development of transport infrastructure were discussed. The decision to launch, within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Commission, a mechanism for joint financing of projects in industrial cooperation can also be cited as a positive example. This, according to the president, is the most important step in strengthening economic and commercial industrial sovereignty.

“We need to understand that they will continue putting pressure on us. Even if the conflict in Ukraine ends, they will not leave us alone. We need to develop a joint plan of actions, primarily in the economy. This plan should unite us all,” the Belarusian leader said.

One of the main goals of this plan is to secure independence from imports. “We will consider ourselves isolated, like the Soviet Union was once. But we must survive, we must determine what we can produce at home (we can do almost everything, 90% ourselves), and we will somehow buy the rest 10% until we get away from dependence on imports,” the head of state said.

“Everyone needs to see themselves in this plan,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. According to him, Belarus and Russia have already come close to developing such a plan and intend to implement it. “I think the Russian president and I are close to making this plan. Of course, we will not have 90% self-sufficiency, but it will surely be 80%. We have no other way. We have no time to sit and wait for someone to come, create something, and then leave,” the head of state said.

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