Lukashenko on his marathon of meetings at BRICS Summit
In an interview with Izvestia, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko shared details of the numerous international meetings that he and the Belarusian delegation had on the side-lines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, BelTA reports
"We held meetings with almost all heads of state. The same is true about our Foreign Minister: he had foreign policy related meetings. For us to hold such negotiations, we would need several years to make trips and agree on something," the Head of State noted.
For example, Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned talks with the new President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian. The leaders met for the first time on the BRICS side-lines. “We got acquainted, agreed on his visit and the work of the intergovernmental commission. We also discussed the plan, the roadmap that we would implement and how it is being modernised at present. If something is outdated, we will put it aside and add something new. Those were full-fledged negotiations if to look at the issues raised. We will work on this in the next month or two," the President said.
"It is the same with other states. There were even specific projects, like with Laos. We discussed specific projects," the President added.
"The BRICS countries are very close to us: these are Russia, China, the Emirates, and many others. I wish we had such a level of relations with India. We are building it. These are our people, and we must co-operate with them," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
During his two-day visit to the BRICS Summit in Kazan, the President of Belarus held official talks with the leaders of Venezuela, Laos, Ethiopia, Iran and Vietnam, as well as with the UN Secretary General. However, the list of international contacts was much broader. Most of the communication with foreign colleagues took place on the side-lines, in a working regime, including during the solemn reception organised for the participants of the event on the evening of October 23rd.
The photos from the reception feature Aleksandr Lukashenko sitting next to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov. Another photo shows the President of Belarus chatting with his colleagues from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Upon arrival at the summit on October 24th, Aleksandr Lukashenko was pictured out of public view with the leaders of Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Laos, Kazakhstan and a representative of Mongolia.
It is obvious that such international contacts took place during both days of Aleksandr Lukashenko's work at the summit. What is important, solutions to many important issues and plans for the future co-operation are sometimes agreed upon during discussions of the kind on the side-lines of an event.
It is worth mentioning that the President was extremely active in communicating with media representatives. Aleksandr Lukashenko gave detailed interviews to journalists from the British BBC, Russian VGTRK, NTV, Izvestia, and the Chinese CGTN TV channel.
