Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 21 April (BelTA) – Belarus is ready, at any moment, to host dialogue similar to the Helsinki Process, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said in his State of the Nation Address on 21 April, BelTA has learned.

“The events taking place in the world and on the continent demonstrate, again and again, the relevance of the Belarusian initiative to start a new large-scale dialogue between the East and the West similar to the Helsinki process. I confirm: Minsk is ready, at any moment, to become the venue of dialogue aimed at understanding the new rules the world order,” the head of state noted.

Alexander Lukashenko noted that the modern world is changing rapidly, moving away from stability and security. More and more disturbing processes happen in the world today. The already known challenges and threats get aggravated, qualitatively new ones emerge. Unfortunately, painful development of the new world order happens not so much at the negotiating table, but in hot spots. The deficit of willingness of the influential world players to compromise, the disturbance of the old system of checks and balances, the desire of certain states to ‘lex the muscles’ are becoming dangerous trends,” the Belarusian leader noted.

The president said that, in fact, we are witnessing a drift towards the new bloc confrontation. “Today, no one can feel safe. Who could have imagined that whole areas of individual states will come under the control of terrorists? Who could have imagined that in prosperous Europe people will die from explosions or under the wheels of trucks driven by fanatics? The tragic events of the past year showed that any citizen of any state anywhere in the world can face the threat of terrorism. In recent weeks alone, we saw bloody terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Tanta, Alexandria. These are the realities of today,” the head of state noted.

Alexander Lukashenko drew attention to the problems in the field of migration. “Millions of refugees from the Middle East and Africa flooded the European continent. The scale of illegal migration is forcing Europeans to become seriously concerned about their identity. EU countries were not ready for such a massive flow. They try, with mixed success, to devise measures to streamline the system. Illegal migration entails crime, terrorism,” the president noted.