Opinions & Interviews

Call to fulfill all Belarus-Ukraine agreements

MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) – It is essential to fulfill existing agreements between Belarus and Ukraine, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with representatives of Ukrainian mass media on 26 September, BelTA has learned.

“I would like to emphasize: it is a life-or-death issue, the issue of mandatory fulfillment of every agreement. Trust me, if we do it, our relations will be developing,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The head of state said that he had never had bad relations with Ukrainian presidents. However, existing agreements were not always implemented. As an example, Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled an agreement to exchange TV channels, but the process was stalled from the Ukrainian side.

“This is how I am used to doing business: we meet, agree on something, and strictly fulfil our agreements,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “But it wasn’t the case. I hope we will not have situations like that in the future.”

At the same time, he recalled that Belarus responded to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request to help with the delivery of oil products during the harvesting campaign amid the plans to conduct repairs at Mozyr Oil Refinery. “I told him: okay, I promise to sort things out by the end of the day. If there is the slightest possibility to postpone these repairs and deliver additional oil products to Ukraine for harvesting needs, we will do it,” the Belarusian leader revealed the details of the conversation with the president of Ukraine. The delivery of oil products was increased as a result. “We have done everything to help Ukraine,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“The fulfillment of agreements is very important for our relations,” the head of state emphasized. That is why a new format emerged – the Forum of Regions of Belarus and Ukraine, and it proved effective.

Speaking about the trade and economic cooperation, Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the trade turnover between Belarus and Ukraine made up $5.5 billion last year. It may reach or even exceed $6 billion this year. “This is a huge turnover for our countries, and this is a priority in our roadmap. If we step up efforts, I think, we will manage to catch up, at least to start addressing unresolved issues, will be able to plan our work for 2020-2025. We are prepared for it, and we will work in this direction,” the Belarusian leader concluded.

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