Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 28 April (BelTA) – Belarus and Moldova have always supported each other. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement on 28 April as he met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Moldova to Belarus Gheorghe Hioara, whose term of office is nearing its end, BelTA has learned.

The head of state noted that one always feels sad when one has to part with the diplomats, who have made a great contribution to the advancement of bilateral relations with Belarus. “I meet only with the ambassadors, who have worked constructively, who loved Belarus and tried to bolster the relations,” said the president.

Alexander Lukashenko also noted that he has known Moldova since the Soviet times as an excellent country where kind and hardworking people live. According to the head of state, the Moldovan economy is similar to the Belarusian one. “We have always earned our living with our own labor. We do so now and did so back then,” stressed Alexander Lukashenko. “In the hardest of times we maintained kind relations, always offered a friendly hand and lived like brothers.”

The president said he was confident that Gheorghe Hioara had been shaping his diplomatic work bearing the concept in mind and that the new ambassador would pursue a similar policy. “I think Belarus has never been a foreign country for you and you have done a lot to intensify Belarusian-Moldovan relations,” stressed the head of state. “You should know that Belarus and Moldova are connected by open relations. I am dead set against all kinds of barriers. Everything must be open. We should talk and trust each other. We have nothing to quarrel over with Moldova. There are no matters, on which we could have differing views.”

Alexander Lukashenko drew attention to the importance of the recent meeting with the Moldova president in Bishkek. A lot of items on the bilateral agenda were discussed during the meeting. By the way, this year will be intensive for Belarusian-Moldovan relations because the president and the prime minister of Moldova are expected to visit Minsk.

Belarusian-Moldovan relations are steadily positive and advance in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. A regular session of the Belarusian-Moldovan intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation as well as a Belarusian-Moldovan business forum took place in October 2016. The events helped promote contacts between the countries.