Republic

Belarus President plans to visit Venezuela in December

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko plans to visit Venezuela in December. The plans were made public during an interview of Alexander Lukashenko with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the presidential press service told BelTA. According to the head of state, a major expo will be held in Venezuela in December to highlight Belarusian products. “During his stay in Minsk Hugo Chavez was very interested in Belarus-made products, as they are of good European quality and less expensive. Even in view of the distance prices for Belarusian products are competitive on the global market,” said the head of state. “We will help Venezuelans as much as we can because they help us. We have problems with energy resources. My friend Chavez said we could extract oil under the same conditions other countries do but with support of Venezuela’s favour.” Alexander Lukashenko noted, reconnaissance works had already been performed in designated oil fields in Venezuela. “We have prepared the documents and set up the necessary companies. We do everything fast. We have no bureaucracy like the EU has,” he added. “Why can’t we cooperate with Venezuela? The same applies to Iran. We have trust relations with Iran. When we came for aid to Iranians, they showed us various deposits. We chose the most promising ones and are now setting up companies there,” said the President. According to the head of state, Venezuela and Iran are some of the world’s richest countries. “The fact that we feel the same pressure from powers that be, primarily, from the USA, draws us together and unites us. Why can’t we cooperate with them like we do with Russia? Linking Belarus to Venezuela and Iran and branding us as pariah states is wrong. Belarus has very good relations with many countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Syria, China, the Russian Federation. We also promote economic relations with the European Union and the USA,” stressed Alexander Lukashenko.