YEREVAN, JULY 2, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian met with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on July 2, the Armenian Presidential Office told Armenpress.

Welcoming the Armenian President’s visit to Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko said they have agreed previously over the visit of Armen Sarkissian to Belarus aimed at getting acquainted with the country’s opportunities. “I was following your visit on TV and noticed that you didn’t forget what we have talked about and want to visit the most significant sites of Belarus in terms of economic development perspective. I was following also your meetings with the IT representatives and understood that you pay much focus on the matters important for Armenia’s development. In this regard, I want to assure you, like in the previous time, that there are absolutely no closed topics with Armenia. We are always ready to open doors to you. I think you have been convinced on this during your visit”.

Alexander Lukashenko informed that before this meeting he had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. “He telephoned me before his visit to Singapore and asked to first of all convey greetings to the President, and I said in response that we have no plan to hurry him to go back to Armenia, especially when he is engaged in a process important for Armenia. I have told about your visit. He [the Armenian PM] said that this is of course good. I want to tell you not to hurry to go back, look at what is interesting to you from the development perspective of economy, agriculture, industry. You are smart and practical person, know what to see and what is important and useful for Armenia”, the Belarusian President added.

Talking about the cooperation of Armenia and Belarus, President Lukashenko said: “Although today we do not have a great trade turnover, but the 50 million USD annually is not a bad dynamics if we compare this with the previous figures. We have very warm relations with many representatives of Armenia. You know my friends in Armenia who are making investments in Belarus, and I am very thankful for this. I have one rule – company is a company, but the state is separate. When they applied to me with the request of supplying goods, I have told them that the principle is the following: you come to Belarus, launch production, create jobs and invest…and so Gagik Tsarukyan’s company is a successful enterprise. We have organized the work of the Armenian-Belarusian trade house, and as I have been reported, 30-40% of the trade turnover between Armenia and Belarus is being carried out through this structure. In other words, we already have joint enterprises and are ready to continue to move on this path”.

He stated that there is a very warm attitude towards Armenians in Belarus. “We have always had good relations with Armenians and have today as well. Therefore, you don’t need to worry, although there are various opinions both in Armenia and Belarus, we are being criticized for certain things. I consider this normal, but the important is that we are allies and act from the same positions. In fact, our views even do not differ at the international agenda”.

In his turn the Armenian President thanked for the invitation to attend the closing ceremony of the 2nd European Games in Minsk and stated: “I am greatly impressed both with the scales of the event and its organizational level. Belarus continues to be considered as champion at concrete directions in the former Soviet space. What I saw, the organization, the discipline, is impressive. I was impressed with the fact that Belarus is ahead of many countries in a sense that it understood that in the future, in the 21st century, the reality and the virtual reality are going to complement each other.

I was also happy for the fact that the Armenian athletes carried out their performances with an honor. I want to congratulate all participants, the team of Belarus which had a wonderful performance, our athletes who also had a good performance. I think Belarus is ready to organize events with a larger scale.

You have a vision and wisdom to look at the future. It’s difficult to build the present without the vision on future”.

At the end of the meeting the Armenian President congratulated Alexander Lukashenko and the whole people of Belarus on the country’s national day, the Independence Day.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan