Lukashenko began series of bilateral talks on side-lines of BRICS Summit with meeting with Venezuelan President

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has negotiated with President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro on the side-lines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan

The Head of State warmly welcomed his colleague, noting that it is nice to meet friends, and emphasised that we are happy about his victory in the recently held presidential election, “We are always happy for you, for your unbending courage. We are very grateful for your courage and steadfastness. It gives us strength and confidence.”

Nicolas Maduro, in turn, emphasised that now his country is opening up new horizons and making serious plans. He particularly noted the warm and friendly relations between Aleksandr Lukashenko and former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, “Now our Venezuelan people have these warm feelings towards Belarus. I am very pleased with these friendly embraces that I can exchange with President Lukashenko.”

Commenting on Belarus-Venezuela joint plans, Aleksandr Lukashenko added that in this context, ‘Hugo Chavez will always be with the leaders’, especially since the negotiations were once always conducted by the three: in 2006-2013, Nicolas Maduro was Foreign Minister, and Venezuela’s position has never been to the detriment of Belarus. Moreover, Nicolas Maduro’s opinion has always been at the heart of the relations between the two countries.

“Therefore, Nicolas Maduro, the current President of Venezuela and his policy is like Hugo Chavez and his policy back then. I am amazed at how much you and your supporters are committed to Chavez and the policies he pursued. You’re great! You have not deviated one iota from those policies. That deserves the greatest respect. I think we cannot find such facts even in the world,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

Referring to the development of bilateral relations, the Head of State reminded that he had recently sent PM Roman Golovchenko to Venezuela ‘to make the first step towards deepening our relations, including to revise the current relations: to abandon what is no longer working, leave what we need and develop a new plan. That is, we are now working to develop a new roadmap for our relations, a plan for the future. I think this is the way we should go. We need to clearly define what we should do together in these conditions.”

Nicolas Maduro emphasised that he fully agreed with this position, adding that he was in favour of a new roadmap for our relations.

photos: www.president.gov.by