Aleinik: process of Belarus’ joining SCO will definitely continue

2023 was a very busy year for Belarus in the foreign policy arena. Belarus’ Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik told the ONT TV channel what has been done and what the diplomatic activities of the state will be aimed at in 2024.

“Of course, the pace and direction of this work was set by the Head of State,” the Head of the Foreign Ministry stressed. “Last year, specific tasks were set to diversify both our foreign economic and geographic activities; a certain reformatting of our diplomatic presence was carried out due to a certain reduction in the presence in Western countries and an increase in the number of diplomatic personnel in the countries of the Global South. We, of course, paid special attention to strengthening our integration ties within the Union State, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. We accomplished the chairmanship of the Republic of Belarus in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) at a very worthy level. We have begun the process of Belarus joining the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), which, naturally, will continue and, I hope, will be completed in 2024. We have launched the process of joining BRICS and participated in the BRICS summit for the first time last year. Of course, we paid a lot of attention to foreign economic activity, because export is, certainly, a priority for the diplomatic service and for our ministry. Our main focus was placed on diversification (both geographical and product) into the countries of the Global South.”

Figures for 2023 indicate that Belarus managed to increase the volume of exports of goods and services, and in terms of physical volumes this increase is quite significant. Of course, this work will continue in 2024, and many events are expected.

“We will continue the process of joining the SCO. You know that literally a week ago the process of ratification in our country of the entire package of documents on our accession was completed. We have acceded to 49 documents, have already notified all SCO member countries about the completion of internal procedures, and we expect that this year the process of our country’s full membership in the SCO will be finally completed,” Sergei Aleinik added.

Moreover, the Foreign Minister of Belarus stressed that the isolation of Belarus and Russia in the international political and economic arena is an illusion of Western countries. “The entire course of development of our international relations along the entire perimeter of both bilateral, regional and multilateral co-operation emphasises the opposite,” noted the Head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

“Belarus is an absolutely independent, self-sufficient state that has its own voice in the international arena and which will, naturally, continue to promote this voice in the direction of building a more equitable multipolar world. Of course, last year we once again underlined the peaceful nature of our foreign policy. We held a conference on Eurasian security, which once again emphasised the importance of the Minsk negotiation platform for dialogue on the most pressing security issues – Eurasian security and – I would even say, global security, because today these issues are especially acute,” summed up Sergei Aleinik.