National ball of university graduates

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko took part in the opening of the national ball of university graduates in Minsk on 28 June.

“Dear friends, the happiest, most enjoyable period in your lives is over. Many of you sitting here, if not all of you, as well as many older people think so. But I strongly disagree with this,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President said that the best Belarusian university graduates gathered for the ball. The university years may have been happy, but also they have been the hardest and most difficult in life. “Today is the best and happiest day in your life when all the exams are behind you and you have your diplomas. It is indeed the happiest day,” the head of state said.

“Today I can call you colleagues and do it with great pleasure. As I said, you have your diplomas of higher education, and literally tomorrow a new stage of life will begin for you. You will come to your first workplace in the status of a certified specialist. I congratulate you! This is a great day. You will never have such a day in your life again. You have passed this important period with dignity, you have realized your purpose, and fulfilled your dreams about your professional future. Today you are here, beautiful and inspired. As you should be at such a young age,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“I am proud of you and grateful to your parents and teachers, who invested a lot into making you what you have become today,” the head of state said.

"You have a whole life ahead of you," Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he addressed the graduates. “I don't know if this is good or bad, but you are starting your adult life in the era of global, tectonic changes. A new world is being born before your eyes, the old one is collapsing. In this turbulent process, Belarus is still an island of tranquility but it is rocking on the waves of the world storm. Where this storm will take us all is up to us."

According to the head of state, young, ambitious, confident people need such a challenge. "Because anything involving risks is also a huge opportunity. For you, they are primarily associated with personal and professional growth. For the country it is important to integrate into a new model, whatever way the world goes, not to be left on the sidelines, to strengthen the state positions in the international arena," the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that young people play the most important role in this process. "The future is certainly yours," he said.

“The stability of our economy will depend on your competences and diligence. Love for the native land, careful treatment of traditions and historic memory will secure not only the preservation of the nation but the enhancement of the role and the voice of our Belarus in the global international polyphony,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked.

The President encouraged the graduates to always remember whatever happens in the near future that people, who have already learned how to go through complicated life periods through their own experience, are close to them.

“For instance, your parents had no one who could help them in the 1990s. Both the older generation and the younger Soviet generation lived in stability for many years and did not know what political, economic crises and even difficulties and complications are. The turning point period caught everyone off guard. But everything is different today. I am absolutely convinced that an alloy of your youth, parents’ experience will become the force that will allow you to calmly and steadily reach a new stage of development,” the head of state stressed.

According to the head of state, every generation goes through trials: some went through revolutions, while the parents of the graduates, as well as the President, went through the turbulent 1990s.

“These trials in the 1990s were when our empire, the Soviet Union, collapsed and we became a sovereign and independent state overnight. There were the hardest times. The journalists often show you on TV how people were standing in kilometer-long lines to buy a piece of bread. We, the older generation, survived those times and thought that you, our children, would live in a completely different world. Time however has decided to give you trials, too,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“We overcame those times, realizing that we could not live like that. You, on the contrary, should keep a peaceful and calm Belarus, making your life even better. Let me put it simply: we, the elders, have confidence in you. And, of course, we count on reciprocity,” the head of state said.

According to the President, his generation has done everything possible for the development of the state. “Whether it is bad or good it is up to you to judge. Do better. These turbulent times have chosen you. It is going to be very hard for you. But I am sure you will make it through,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko wished the graduates the most important thing, in his opinion, which is to be happy. "A person is happy when he loves his job, sees the result and benefits of his work, when he has like-minded people, when he is happy to go to work and home at the end of the working day, when his family and friends are healthy and happy. Especially if your children are healthy. Let all this be in your life," the Belarusian leader said.

The head of state is convinced that graduates are well aware of what they want to achieve, what heights to reach. "But remember one thing: do it in your native land. Some of you think ‘out there’ is easier and better. Learn from other people's mistakes. Reach out to those who are there, ask how they are doing. Then make a decision. Anyway, take your time. Try it here first. You can also go there. Then you will be something to compare. But at the same time, I often say this, do everything on time because the day after tomorrow you might be caught up in a storm you will find difficult to cope with. It would be good that you have already passed your way of yesterday, the day before yesterday and today, so that tomorrow will be easier. I am convinced that you know well how to move forward and where to. I wish you to have enough knowledge, strength, and courage to overcome the challenges that time might throw at us," the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko once again congratulated the young people on graduating from the university, a challenging period in their lives, and on receiving a university diploma. "Today is your day, the day of celebration of the first serious success. You deserve it. I will be happy to share this day with you," he added.

Attending the ball were 230 graduates of Belarusian universities. This time the ball celebrated the Belarusian history and culture.