Lukashenko about Asia: we must boldly take the reins of world’s power in our hands
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is sure that Asia in the current global situation should not miss the moment and take on leadership functions more boldly. He stated this during his meeting with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, which took place in Astana on the sidelines of the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), BelTA reports.
“Thank you very much for the invitation. I really sincerely feel and think, as I have already said today, that the time for Asia is coming. People in the East are very neat, cautious, and prudent. However, this behaviour of Asia should not be the reason that Asia will miss this moment. Everyone is now looking for someone to rely on. It so happened that the SCO and your organisation [CICA], which was established on the initiative of Kazakhstan, are strong. It’s very correct that you have now begun to develop this organisation, turning it into a global one. Therefore, we must boldly take the reins of world’s power in our hands and rule,” the President of Belarus said.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed that he was glad to see Aleksandr Lukashenko, especially in Astana, and thanked him for his contribution to the work of the forum.
The President of Kazakhstan stated that Asia is showing very good results in its development, and this is, of course, a region with a great future in terms of economy. “Of course, China is the locomotive in Asia. But there are also other states,” he said. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev particularly mentioned Vietnam, which was also represented at the event. This is a country with a large and rapidly developing economy.
Aleksandr Lukashenko agreed with this, but also noted the significant role of Kazakhstan in Asia. “You said that there are very serious large states in this organisation. But I don’t think that Kazakhstan is a small country and is not able to contribute to Asian organisations’ dominating in the world today. And you have done a lot for this,” he said.
“The figures speak for themselves. We will have a GDP of almost $190bn this year. This is more than the economies of all of Central Asia. I’m telling this not to boast; this is a statistical fact,” the Kazakh leader agreed.
As far as bilateral relations with Belarus are concerned, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev assured that he would do everything possible to ensure that efficient and multilateral co-operation continued to develop.
“We are absolutely enthusiastic about it. I constantly tell the members of the government that everything possible must be done to increase this volume, whether it is trade, investment interaction, or joint projects. Actually, there is no reason to sound the alarm, there is nothing terrible happening. We just need to use the available opportunities. You know better about them, because you have been in the subject for a long time,” the President of Kazakhstan summed up.
