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Lukashenko wants EAEU to build up technological sovereignty regardless of relations with West
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MOSCOW, 24 May (BelTA) – The Eurasian Economic Union should build up its technological sovereignty regardless of how relations with the West change. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement in his speech during the 2nd Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow, BelTA has learned.
According to the Belarusian leader, manufacturing cooperation will allow creating products under a Eurasian brand with the maximum rate of localization. It will also allow launching new import-substituting projects.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “More than a quarter of the industrial goods the union imports to the tune of about $70 billion per year can be substituted with products made by national manufacturers. A huge chunk. I hope to god we can take it. The fourth industrial revolution will give a chance for effective realization of import-substituting initiatives in the real sector of the economy at the regional level.”
“Technological sovereignty and the substitution of critical imports will remain the foundation for future development of our union regardless of how our relations with so-called Western partners change down the road,” the president stated.
He also recounted the areas that Belarus will prioritize. Those are the development of manufacturing of high-precision equipment on the basis of modern microprocessors, electronic components and software, the realization of joint projects to make electronic and optic products, paying more attention to technologies for making microchips, integrated circuits, to technologies for driverless control, automation and robotization of processing industry.
Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that Belarus is working on it together with the Russian Federation and has accomplished a lot in this field. For instance, in the area of microelectronics. “They have been trying to bend us for three years [with sanctions]. It is okay. It means that we can do something. And we are already doing it,” he remarked.
Belarus’ priority development areas also include the production of electromechanical systems, including the development of technologies for making modern mechatronic and electromechanical components of robot technology systems, CNC equipment, and lithium-ion batteries.
The head of state emphasized that the small country of Belarus can make it all primarily because “we stand on shoulders of what was created in the Soviet Union.” Because Belarus was developed specifically as a high-tech republic. And Belarus has managed to preserve it despite all the difficulties.
At the same time Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that the country is lagging behind in a number of areas of technological development but as a whole, Belarus has everything it needs. “This is why don’t wail that we are lagging behind in some areas. We have to run. We have to catch up and create. The president of Russia and I have sketched out such a policy using microelectronics and what I’ve mentioned about our manufacturing sector as an example. But we have to trust each other. We have to stand together, stand closer. The Eurasian Economic Union has been created for this purpose,” he stressed.
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