Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 3 February (BelTA) – Belarus has no other option but to pursue a multi-vector policy, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the meeting with the members of the public, representatives of the Belarusian and foreign mass media on 3 February, BelTA has learned.

“We have no other option but to further pursue a multi-vector policy. It was my decision. I felt it intuitively,” the head of state said.

However, the president remarked that “not everything worked out right with this multi-vector policy”.

“You know it, that we were flying with one wing. I talked about it and do not want to repeat myself. Where we arrived at – you know that too. Being in the epicenter of not just Europe but the whole Eurasian continent, we have no other option but to develop the multi-vector policy. This is consistent with our mentality: we should be friends with all our neighbors. Neither Russia nor Ukraine or Poland or Lithuania, or Latvia are alien lands for us. They are our neighbors. Full stop. Nothing more should be said, although it is possible to put a comma and continue and say a lot,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

“As regards further vectors: our economy is open. What do we do? If we could sell everything we produce to our neighbors to live a normal life (45% or half), then we would not have had to reach out to distant-arc countries. I have been criticized recently for traveling to Egypt, Sudan. I went there to promote our products. I go to the countries that open their doors to us. Thanks God, many countries have recently opened their doors. And we go there. Not a single trip was in vain,” Alexander Lukashenko said.