Opinions & Interviews

VERONA, 20 October (BelTA) – Belarus has alway been a friendly and open country in terms of its foreign policy. It has been in the forefront of integration for a long time, Chairman of the Board of the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus (DBRB) Sergei Rumas said at the fifth edition of the Eurasian Forum in Verona, Italy on 20 October, BelTA has learned.

“Today we see various countries in different parts of the world developing their own integration chains and connections. There are many examples. At the same time, all the countries are directly and indirectly involved in the same relations and processes. But what is the reason for such an unequal treatment of countries? When shaking the same hands, why do they forget about the old rule that ‘a friend of my friend is my friend’? This is an important question that we should consider today. Our ability to overcome the global crisis, restore the health of the world’s economy and achieve stability will depend on this,” Sergei Rumas emphasized.

He drew the attention of the participants in the forum to a major problem: many long-lasting business ties get easily broken today, the rules of the game change rapidly, while these rules have been evolving over decades and served as a basis for development and integration.

“Unfortunately, the economic world is switching to the language of sanctions and puts up numerous barriers. However, all countries are, essentially, links of one chain, parts of one global financial mechanism. Even the strongest link in this chain cannot continue to function successfully when the chain gets broken in many places. The crisis of 2008 was an eloquent demonstration of this. The global economy still feels its impacts,” the expert said.

Sergei Rumas admitted that today there is no panacea to the global economy woes. “But I think that the search for ingredients for the necessary formula is more important than the formula itself. Even though this will not ‘cure’ us of the global crisis. But it will bring about positive change and certain relief. And the main thing is that it will give us hope for a speedy global economic recovery,” he added.