Expert: Belarus’ co-operation with Pakistan, China, Africa extremely important

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko is on an official visit to Pakistan; certain agreements have been reached and contracts signed. Vadim Gigin, House of Representatives MP and General Director of the National Library, talked to Alfa Radio about the ways found by Belarus and Pakistan to monetise their excellent political relations.

According to Mr. Gigin, the geopolitical ideas that were presented as a concept back in the late 1990s and took shape after 2020, are now getting entrenched.

“I’m talking about the pivot south and east Belarus is doing now. It does bring results. Let’s take a look at Pakistan and compare it to China. Last year alone, our President met Xi Jinping twice for lengthy talks. Let me remind you, few leaders from much bigger countries enjoy this level of trust. China is the global leader now, and Belarus is its key partner. As a result, our trade with China grew 2.5 times in 4 years. It is now our second most important trade partner after Russia. There were many critics who used to say we won’t be able to recover after losing Ukraine. And would you look at that, our trade with China reached $8.5 billion,” he said.

The speaker made a point that Belarus has been diligently building up its co-operation with Pakistan, saying, “Our President has met their political leaders and statesmen; we have exchanged business missions. In 2023, if I’m not mistaken, our exports to Pakistan grew 250 percent, and another 130 percent growth was recorded in 2024, compared to the same period of the prior year. Now they are worth solid $50 million. Of course, we realise this is not what we should feel content with. So, President Lukashenko took a large business mission with him, including people from the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Contracts have been signed. Come January, we expect a business mission from Pakistan to visit the My Belarus exhibition where we are going to present our products.”

He also pointed out the way President Lukashenko communicates with his hosts in Pakistan.

“They come to him for expertise, shared experience, his opinions on domestic and foreign developments. It's obvious the Belarusian leader deeply feels the Pakistanis’ drive to take the fate of their country into their own hands. He’s talking about that honestly and openly, without any obfuscations. They value and like that, because President Lukashenko has a history of struggles, wins and successes he can draw upon. He’s not like a president of some superpower who comes, slaps you on the back and says, come on, pass this bill, do this, do that. He’s a man from a country which is average by European standards. Pakistan, on the other hand, is one of the largest Muslim nations in the world, and they are receptive to our experience of fighting for our independence and sovereignty. People know about that. The story of President Lukashenko’s political life, his fight for our country's sovereignty and independence is now working in our favour. It creates this aura of a nation that gets things done. That’s important,” he explained.