Meeting with members of Belarus’ Security Council

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko held a meeting with members of the Security Council of Belarus on 5 September to discuss national economy.

“I have always said and I want to remind you once again that our main task, problem and concern is the economy. With the sound economy, we will have everything we need. If there is no economy, then no need to rely on ideology, security and peace in the country,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.

He noted that a lot has been done recently for the country's stable economic performance. “Agreements with Russia, intergovernmental consultations also give positive results,” the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko added that the situation with the coronavirus pandemic in Belarus is much better than in other countries. It is necessary to prevent its deterioration and take advantage of existing opportunities to export goods. “The pandemic will go away one day. You can see, however, that a second wave is marching through Europe, and we are in the center of Europe. We are taking to the streets. What social distancing can we talk about? We are doing everything to say goodbye to this disease as late as possible. It is inadmissible. However, our situation is much better than in other countries. I have looked at the data for the last 24 hours. We even have a very good negative dynamics for pneumonia. This means more people are discharged from hospitals than they are admitted there,” the Belarusian leader said.

Speaking about the economy, the head of state said that the countries could not open because of the pandemic and the production had been on decline. “We have not stopped. We continue our production and we have a chance to sell our products with a good value added, with a good profit,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

According to him, the UN has recently published the data for an increased demand for food products in the world. “It is clear that there is a higher demand for other goods, as well. That is why the functioning of our enterprises is very important now for the economy to work. The main question we have to discuss now is not only the security and stability of our state. We need to ensure normal functioning of enterprises so that the economy could give us results. This is our main priority,” the President said.

The President suggested that the participants of the meeting take a look at what needs to be done to support the government, enterprises and the National Bank. “We, everyone who is involved in the security of the country today, need to provide support in this matter. Economic security is an important segment of our state's activity. Economy is the number one priority,” the President added.