Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko concerned about problems in BRICS, calls to solve them

MINSK, 26 October (BelTA) - There are still many unresolved problems in BRICS but they can and must be solved, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in an interview with the Central Television show on the NTV channel on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, BelTA has learned.

The head of state said that before becoming a member of BRICS, Belarus must first work with the organization as a partner. The corresponding status, according to him, was granted at the summit in Kazan. "This stage is now mandatory for everyone. This decision was made by the BRICS members: those who want to join BRICS must go through this stage. Therefore, Belarus is a BRICS partner country," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

The journalists noted that on the eve of the summit, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov said that joining BRICS is a dream of Belarus.

"Our minister sees it this way. I would not put it so definitely because our dream is for BRICS to become a dream for many states," the president commented on this statement. “Let's be frank: there are problems in the organization (you see it as well as I do). To say that problems are many or not is a matter of taste, but they are there. Even between the leading states - the founders of this organization. Maybe BRICS will help overcome all these problems."

To see a bigger picture

The head of state, in particular, noted that during the summit, many countries were focused more on their own problems rather than global initiatives. Russia, on the contrary, made very serious proposals, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. "Something that concerns everyone today, not just Russia, or will affect them tomorrow," he said.

The matter is, for example, about the initiative to develop a new interbank system that could replace SWIFT or work in parallel with it. "So far, I cannot say that this reasonable proposal by Russia has been supported. Or other initiatives. What does this mean? That even the founding members (five countries) and those that have become permanent members of the BRICS today proceed from ‘as far as it concerns me”. Everyone takes care of its own issues, but the organization mustaddress common problems. This is what BRICS still lacks," the president stressed.

To avoid red tape

Aleksandr Lukashenko admitted in the interview with the Izvestia newspaperthat he was wary of too much red tape in the process of admission to the organization.

“For example, why not accept Türkiyeas a member of BRICS? It looks symbolic; this is a big country. Why is it symbolic? It is so far the only NATO country that has shown interest in BRICS. Bureaucrats have started to develop some criteria for admission.If you meet these criteria, you get a partner status, and then the organization decides whether to accept you or not. I am afraid that BRICS may drown in this red tapethe same way many other organizations have done,” the president said.

To keep up with the frantic pace of time

According to the head of state, BRICS sprang up both for the subjective reasons - the desire of the countries to work together, and objective ones - to ensure a multipolar world.

“This is an objective factor, and it is impossible to simply shrug it off. Today, the world is changing frantically, time is very fast paced, and it is important to keep pace.If we are not able to keep up, this organization may become a marginal organization, and this may happen already in the near future,” the Belarusian leader said.

Frenzied campaign against BRICS

“Moreover, the collective West, first of all the United States of America, has launched a frenzied campaign against BRICS, against the emergence of multipolar world, which BRICS seeks. Therefore, there are still a lot of problems we are facing,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Belarus used the summit in Kazan as a chance to hold a number of bilateral negotiations. Such events provide an opportunity to meet with representatives of different continents. This is undoubtedly one of the advantages of such formats.

“We are waiting for BRICS to resolve the common problems that all countries, not individual ones, may face” the Belarusian leader concluded.

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