Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 6 July (BelTA) – Belarus and the United States of America should continue the dialogue on sensitive matters in a constructive manner. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement as he met with a delegation of the U.S. Congress on 6 July, BelTA has learned.

Alexander Lukashenko said: “It is necessary to continue the Belarus-USA dialogue on sensitive matters in a constructive manner. Time has shown that it is an effective way to mutually adjust our views and address the existing differences of opinions. We should advance from mutual complaints and demands towards vigorous cooperation. It is necessary to learn to accept what is going on in our countries as part of the broad regional and global context. Certainly, it is not an easy thing to accomplish but we should set constructive goals before us.”

“We know what the American side expects with regard to human rights, democracy, and other matters. We are not steering away from them. We are ready to discuss them in any way and place — Minsk, Washington or New York,” said the president. “The same holds true for elections and so on.”

The head of state stated that at present the pace of advancement of Belarus-USA relations has slowed down a bit. “Some ill-wishers of ours say that normalization has run out of gas, that our relations with the USA are once again entering a crisis period. I cannot agree with that: there is no crisis. But there is a shortage of ideas. This is why our meeting today is very important for keeping up the pace that we achieved once,” said the Belarusian leader.

Alexander Lukashenko said he was ready to hear out any remarks and ideas. He also suggested discussing ways to invigorate Belarusian-American relations.