Meeting with Venezuelan Vice President Ricardo Menendez

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko reaffirmed the commitment to the development of close relations with Venezuela and said that he intends to visit the country as he met with Venezuelan Vice President Ricardo Menendez on 28 November.

“With regard to our bilateral relations they were friendly and fraternal in the political and diplomatic dimensions and they remain so. We are ready to offer everything that we have today to help Venezuela achieve success. We agreed to develop a roadmap to deepen our bilateral development considering the situation which is unfolding. In the nearest future, in 2018, during my visit to Venezuela, we will be able to advance our relations. We will not only approve the roadmap. We will start to implement it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President noted that there are some unresolved issues in the bilateral relations but they should not hinder the development of cooperation. “If we cannot solve some things today, we must put them aside and draw up a roadmap so as to move forward,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. Otherwise, in his opinion, the parties may lose more than gain in anticipation of the solution of current problems in bilateral relations.

“Today we have the things that you need. You also have the things we might need. I think we should use it as a basis of our agreements and the roadmap,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko has underlined that much depends on the current visit by Ricardo Menendez to Belarus and the session of the joint intergovernmental commission. “At least the content of the new page in our relations depends on this,” he said.

The Belarusian President asked to convey the congratulations on the convincing victory in the important and indicative regional elections to Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. “Everything goes so as it should. Some do not like your victory and are trying to destroy the consolidation that has emerged in the Venezuelan society. This is hardly surprising and you do not have to attach the utmost importance to this. It happens always. We have gone through this too. There will come a time and good people will understand the role and importance of Venezuela in the international community, and, I am sure, you will overcome these obstacles very quickly. In recent years or even months the world is changing very fast,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

“The main thing that I highlighted in the meeting with Nicolas Maduro is that you should stay united in Venezuela and believe in your victory. Otherwise, our friend Hugo Chavez will never forgive us,” the Belarusian leader said.

Ricardo Menendez conveyed warm greetings from the Venezuelan President to Aleksandr Lukashenko. “He is keeping a close eye on everything, starting from this visit to all the current agreements and meetings. After your meeting with President Maduro there was a lot of food for thought, and we are currently working on these projects,” he said.