Telephone conversation with Federal Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz

A telephone conversation took place between Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko and Federal Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz upon the initiative of the Austrian side.

The Federal Chancellor informed the Belarusian President about the changes that had happened in Austria’s political field. Aleksandr Lukashenko, in turn, congratulated Sebastian Kurz on the appointment as the Federal Chancellor of Austria.

During the telephone conversation the sides discussed the contacts between the two countries in various fields and agreed that they cannot be lost. Sebastian Kurz invited Aleksandr Lukashenko to visit Austria. Having accepted the invitation, the President of Belarus, in turn, invited the Federal Chancellor to visit Belarus together with the business circles.

During the conversation the sides paid special attention to the international forum “Eastern Europe: In Search of Security for All” organized by the Minsk Dialogue initiative that had been held in Minsk. Sebastian Kurz emphasized positive results of the conference. Apart from that, the sides discussed the Core Group Meeting of the Munich Security Conference which is expected to take place in Belarus in the autumn of 2018. The Federal Chancellor expressed readiness to support Belarus and provide comprehensive assistance in this context.

Speaking about the bilateral cooperation, Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned a positive dynamics in the development of the Belarusian-Austrian relations and expressed hope that the constructive interaction will be continued. He emphasized Belarus’ commitment to the development of cooperation with Austria.

The sides also discussed the trade, economic and investment cooperation. Austria is one of Belarus’ key investment partners. During the telephone conversation Aleksandr Lukashenko and Sebastian Kurz also spoke about the operation of the Belarusian telecommunications sector, in particular, the work on the market and the further development of velcom which is an affiliated company of Telekom Austria AG.