Opinions & Interviews

ASTANA, 8 June (BelTA) – Belarus is interested in Kazakhstan’s experience of building exhibition pavilions for the Astana Expo 2017. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement as he met with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana on 8 June, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian head of state said: “We could not but visit this expo because you are our friends, people, who are close to us. I know how hard you’ve been preparing for this expo, how much has been done. We will not just look at the pavilions.”

Alexander Lukashenko explained that an old exhibition center was demolished in Minsk a short while ago. “We have plans to build a Belarusian expo center. This is why we are going to thoroughly study your experience. Certainly, we don’t need your scale, the scale of a world expo. We will very carefully study this experience. If you help us with at least architectural blueprints and specialists, if you give us a hint or two, we will be very grateful,” noted the Belarusian leader.

In turn, Nursultan Nazarbayev thanked the Belarus president for accepting the invitation to visit Kazakhstan to participate in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the opening ceremony of the Astana Expo 2017. “Over the period of 2.5 years we spent $3 billion and built an entire area with residential premises, hotels, and a congress hall,” said the Kazakh leader.

In his words, after the expo is over, the vacant premises will be used to house an international financial center. A permanent exhibition will be opened. Another part of the area will be used to set up a university lab. The residential premises built for participants of the expo will be handed over to Astana residents.

Nursultan Nazarbayev also noted that during the Astana Expo 2017 Belarus is represented by a dedicated national pavilion. “Belarus has something to show as far as new machines and technologies are concerned,” he said.

Speaking about the bilateral relations, Nursultan Nazarbayev said he was confident there are no problems. “If there are any, we have people to handle them upon our instructions,” said the Kazakhstan president.