President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that during the talks in the Chinese capital of Beijing, new horizons for bilateral cooperation will be announced. This was announced on Wednesday, March 1, by the agency BelTa.
“We will try to outline new horizons for our cooperation,” the Belarusian leader said at a meeting with Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang.
Lukashenka also drew attention to the record growth in trade between Beijing and Minsk, which almost reached $6 billion.
“We have no closed topics for cooperation. We cooperate in all areas. And, most importantly, we have never set ourselves the task of being friends or working against third countries, anyone. We do everything in the interests of our peoples – Belarusian and Chinese. It will continue to be so,” the President of Belarus added.
Earlier, on February 28, experts interviewed by Izvestia expressed the opinion that in the context of Western sanctions against Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko during his visit to China would certainly raise the issue of the possibilities of new Chinese investments and deepening trade ties between Minsk and Beijing. Andrei Savinykh, Chairman of the Standing Committee on International Affairs of the Belarusian House of Representatives, noted that, like Russia, Minsk is turning to the east.
On the same day, Cui Hongjian, director of the European Studies Department at the Chinese Institute of International Studies, admitted that Alexander Lukashenko’s visit to Beijing would allow the Chinese side to better understand Belarus’ position on the Ukrainian conflict. And this, according to the scientist, will contribute to the political settlement of the situation.
Lukashenka is expected to stay in China until March 2 inclusive. In Beijing, the Belarusian president will hold a series of meetings with top officials of the PRC, the leadership of leading Chinese corporations.
