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PM: Belarus works with Africa, South America strictly according to plan

MINSK, 29 July (BelTA) - In its cooperation with African and Latin American countries Belarus strictly adheres to the policy of building long-term, lasting relations, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko told the media after a meeting chaired by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on international issues in Minsk on 29 July, BelTA has learned.

Speaking about the development of cooperation with Latin American countries, Roman Golovchenko emphasized that the region is of great importance for Belarus, especially in view of its huge market capacity (population of over 600 million ) and natural mineral resources, including oil, lithium, copper, silver. “Therefore, we need to gradually gain a foothold, to increase our presence there every year,” the prime minister noted.

So far, according to him, the results of work in the region fall short of what was expected. The government realizes this and is taking measures to achieve the desired result. “We are not zigzagging. We have chosen the policy and we stock to it. Perhaps, the processes are not going as fast as we would like. Some are used to living a more relaxed mode of life not being pressed by the time factor. We do not have such an opportunity. We need everything fast. This is why we will compensate for the relaxed way of our partners with our assertiveness and in the end we will achieve what we are looking for,” said Roman Golovchenko.

He recalled that the government has developed a comprehensive program of work with the countries of South America and Africa and compiled a lit of domestic products that can be in demand. When this work was done, it became clear that some enterprises are struggling to recognize the importance of that market, the prime minister noted. Therefore, the government has to exert a degree of persuasion to correct the situation. “The government performs a monitoring and supervisory function,” he explained.

As for the specific figures of exports, to which Belarus aspires, the prime minister did not disclose them publicly, explaining it by the reasons of economic security and competition: “All our successes are closely watched. No sooner does our airplane departs than our so-called friends immediately run to find out what results we have achieved”.

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