Opinions & Interviews

Ukraine president satisfied with private talks with Belarus president

ZHITOMIR, 4 October (BelTA) – Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is satisfied with the private talks with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. Volodymyr Zelensky made the relevant statement during expanded-participation talks with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko later on 4 October, BelTA has learned.

The private talks of the two presidents lasted for over two hours.

Volodymyr Zelensky said: “We’ve just had an excellent conversation. I was very pleased to meet you in person. The conversation was both warm and kind. I appreciate it most of all. But we’ve also talked about relations between our countries.” Volodymyr Zelensky said he is confident these relations will only grow better in the future. Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Aleksandr Lukashenko for Belarus’ role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine’s east and for providing a venue for talks in Minsk.

In turn, Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I was very pleased to meet with you. Although mass media and probably politicians have raised too much hype around this meeting. Since the very first minutes we saw that we are close people. That we have common problems. You have a fair share of problems and Belarus does, too. There are problems everywhere now particularly due to the upcoming global crisis, god forbid.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that trade and economic relations are the foundation of cooperation. “You and I have agreed that the $5.5-6 billion trade turnover we are going to have this year is nothing. You suggest we can raise the figure to $10 billion. It was larger than $8 billion [in the past],” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also invited Volodymyr Zelensky to come to Belarus at any time not only for official reasons but for unofficial ones as well.

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