Meeting with Ukraine’s representative in Trilateral Contact Group Yevgeny Marchuk

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Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Ukraine’s representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on resolving the situation in Donetsk Oblast and Lugansk Oblast Yevgeny Marchuk on 29 January.

Among other things the meeting focused on various aspects of the Belarusian-Ukrainian relations, enhancement of the trade and economic cooperation. Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the bilateral trade reached its peak of $8 billion a few years ago. “This was the best figure. Now we have about $5.5 billion. Of course, it is not our level. We can increase our bilateral trade, and this is our goal,” the president said.

Yevgeny Marchuk, in turn, conveyed greetings to the Belarusian leader from Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko. “I saw him yesterday. He asked me to tell you that he is satisfied with the progress in the Belarusian-Ukrainian cooperation, especially after the forum of regions and other things. The bilateral commission is working like a charm,” he said.

The countries maintain good relations at a personal level. “The attitude to Belarus and to you as the president of Belarus is good. You are a very popular person in Ukraine. I am saying this sincerely,” Yevgeny Marchuk said.

The sides also mentioned the plans to complete the demarcation of the common border in 2019.

The representative of Ukraine shared his impressions from the visit to Belarus. “I have been taking part in this negotiations process for five years. Apart from this heavy burden, I visited your fantastic library. I stayed for Saturday on purpose. There are not many such libraries in the world. I visited your opera theater, the Museum of Yanka Kupala… It was amazing.”