Opinions & Interviews

The Ukrainian leader thanked Belarus for the support, in word and deed, and for the effort to enable good working conditions for the negotiations in Minsk. “As of today, the Minsk Agreements, which have been included in international documents and diplomacy textbooks, are the one and only document on the de-escalation of the conflict in Ukraine,” Petro Poroshenko underlined.

He said that Alexander Lukashenko assured him that the territory of the friendly Belarus will never be used for aggressive action against Ukraine and the Belarusian-Ukrainian border will never become a frontier of war.

Speaking about cross-border cooperation, the Ukraine president pointed to the need to finish border demarcation.

In general, he remarked, the sides have conducted very substantive negotiations and discussed the whole scope of topical issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Economic collaboration was in the spotlight of the negotiations. The sides pointed out the growth in bilateral trade. “We see solid and real prospects for [economic] growth,” Petro Poroshenko added.

The president highlighted that Belarus and Ukraine intend to actively engage their potential to co-manufacture products to be exported to third-country markets. They also reached an agreement on specific measures to promote cooperation in the energy industry. The Ukraine president also views the cooperation in the transport sector, including river transport, as promising.