Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 October (BelTA) - Belarus views the route to supply merchandise through Turkmenistan to the Persian Gulf region as very promising, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with the Turkmen media, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian head of state noted that construction of the road from Kazakhstan through Turkmenistan to the Persian Gulf region is nearing completion. In his view, this opens up great prospects for Belarus. "For us this is good, because we have excellent relations with Kazakhstan and can move goods freely from Belarus to the Persian Gulf region,” said the Belarusian leader. “In general, how will this flow go to Europe? Through us. This is additional traffic, which is very good for Belarus. Therefore, we think that the prospects of our relations in this regard are great,” the Belarusian leader said.

Alexander Lukashenko added that hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight traffic go through Belarus annually. "When the trouble came to Ukraine, then this flow increased, because there is no other way but through Belarus. We are a transit state, at the heart of Europe. You would do not go round us and you do not need to. Our network of roads and main thoroughfares are good. We pay great attention to road construction. We have good logistics centers and we will double their number in the next 2 to 3 years. Everything is in place to serve traffic flows in Belarus. But the most important thing is that we have professionals and experience,” the Belarusian leader said.