Lukashenko outlined five steps to create Greater Eurasia project at SCO summit
President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has outlined five steps to create a Greater Eurasia project at a meeting in the SCO Plus format of the SCO Council of Heads of State in Astana
The Head of State is deeply convinced that the unity and cohesion of the SCO members will be the best response to the challenges of the global politics, “To do this, we must consolidate within the SCO area of responsibility. It is this approach that determines the need to create Greater Eurasia.”
The Belarusian leader outlined steps in this direction from the Belarusian point of view, “Firstly, we need to develop a concept, whose name and draft already exist: the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century. Its idea appeared following the results of an international conference, held last October in Minsk.”
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, now it is an annual event on regional security, held in the Belarusian capital. Moreover, we consider it as a kind of Eurasian alternative to the transatlantic Munich conference.
“Invitations to the leadership of your foreign ministries to the Minsk conference – scheduled for this autumn – have already been sent. We would very much like representatives of your countries to participate in the discussion of the charter. We believe that it should be adopted at the level of heads of state,” the President underlined.
Taking this opportunity, Aleksandr Lukashenko expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his recent words of support for this initiative.
“Secondly, it is necessary to pay more attention to the various integration processes on the Eurasian continent. Last time I said: the situation now is that people are in confusion and ignorance. The UN Secretary General has just confirmed that conflict and dangerous development in the future in the world. People are waiting for some kind of orientation and certainty. The SCO can do this. But it must be done quickly, because time is compressed. This is not what happened after WWII and the Cold War. Time requires quick steps. If we do this promptly, we will be ahead, and the entire world community will thank us,” the President of Belarus said.
Active integration is taking place in the post-Soviet space within the framework of the Union State, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Other Eurasian associations are also gaining momentum: the ASEAN, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, the League of Arab States.
According to the Belarusian leaders, important initiatives are being implemented linking the continent with strategic infrastructure projects, primarily China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as Russia’s Northern Way project. It is necessary to find the points of convergence of all these processes.
“It is necessary to settle the interests of all the players,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
Thirdly, the Head of State continued, it is necessary to strengthen practical co-operation on the entire SCO comprehensive agenda, “I suggest to start with finance. Belarus considers the creation of a mechanism for bilateral payments in national currencies and a collective financial institution of the SCO as a priority issue. We all say that we are big, we are great. We are really great, accounting for over 40 percent of the global population and about a third of the world’s GDP in US dollar terms. And in terms of purchasing power parity, only our organisation has two of the most powerful leaders: China and Russia. But we all tremble before this dollar. Let’s finally take certain steps to be less dependent on this currency. You will see: having been scared, those who manipulate the ‘dollar big stick’ will understand that it cannot go on like this. We see everything, but we don’t do, and people are waiting.”
Fourthly, it is very important to strengthen co-operation in the field of digital technologies, which are becoming an integral part of our lives.
“I mean those digital technologies that are beneficial for peoples and the economy. But this doesn’t apply to artificial intelligence that we are anxiously waiting for. Everyone should benefit from advanced developments, not just Western countries and multinational corporations,” the Belarusian leader emphasised.
Fifthly, Belarus is ready to make a feasible contribution to the common efforts of the SCO member states in such areas as industry, trade, science, culture, education and, of course, food security and agriculture.
“People in the world are getting poorer, hunger is getting wider,” the President asserted.
Aleksandr Lukashenko invited next year to bring into life the idea of the AgroSCO exposition within the framework of Belarus’ largest agricultural exhibition: Belagro, “We’ll be glad to see the stands of all the ‘SCO family’ countries in Minsk, as well as the presentation of the SCO demonstration base for agricultural technology exchanges and training.”
