Meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to China Yuri Senko

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko held a working meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to China Yuri Senko in Minsk on 1 August.

"You have worked long enough in China to get some impression of what this empire is and to identify some additional opportunities for us in the People's Republic of China," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the President, special attention should be paid to trade and economic cooperation between the two countries and also to credit and financial interaction. "Here we need to look, taking into account the moment where we still need to step up work in order not to lose the momentum. The dynamics have been good, both in terms of trade and investment. Naturally, in the context of sanctions China can be wary of any steps: they are very careful, cautious people. Nevertheless, it is very good that we have built good relations with the People's Republic of China," the head of state said.

“China helped us a lot and now we are posting a considerable increase in mutual trade and are also getting new opportunities. We can easily increase trade with China. I often told Xi Jinping that if this huge Chinese locomotive takes Belarus as an extra car, it will not even notice that. Because China is such a gigantic economy. It is good that we have such relations in diplomacy, politics. I have very good personal relations with Xi Jinping's family too,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

According to Yuri Senko, Belarus and China demonstrate full understanding by cooperating at all international platforms. “In the area of economic relations (I come to the conclusion, and it is evident from the mood of our Belarusian enterprises) we simply have unique opportunities to increase the pace of work with China, which, in fact, has been done for the last (I am not afraid of mentioning this figure) seven years since China announced its Belt and Road initiative. It was a serious boost when Belarus joined this initiative and actively started working with China at an increasing pace,” the ambassador said.

Another project that gave an impetus to the development of cooperation between the two countries was the Great Stone Industrial Park. The agreements of the leaders of Belarus and China on the Year of Regions and the presidential directive on the development of bilateral relations with China also made a significant contribution, the diplomat said. “This is a very important signal for China as to how Belarus treats the country and what our strategic intentions are,” Yuri Senko said.